Dusk to Dusk
by HbayAlay
Summary: The third generation of the famous wizard families continue on to making a new home in Hogwarts and all its glory. However, the great new adventures through magic also bring haunting tidings from a forbidden enemy, long forgotten after the battles of the Deatheaters. How will three chosen friends battle not only the enemy, but themselves in the midst of the battle? M just in case.
1. Initiation

Chapter 1

Initiation

Orion looked out at the dusky morning, feeling his position being battered by the moving train. His cat, Artemis, sat beside him, where it was pleasantly warm. It was going to rain soon, he knew it. It would do nothing to improve his mood, all lonely in this car.

He was staring out the dirty old window, watching all the trees in the forest go rushing by. He sat there alone and wondered why he was so lonely on his trip. Harry had always told good stories about the train ride to Hogwarts. So why, oh why, was poor Orion alone? He was related to the great hero, Harry freakin' Potter, but he was not as well known. He sighed, and heard a sweeping noise, and turned to see somebody, no, two somebodies, and his eyes widened with excitement. When he met the eyes of the two, he realized that they were only his second cousins, here to keep him company. No real wizard would ever think to join such a weird child, even if he was a Potter.

"I'm all out of cash, if that's what you want," Orion growled.

"Aw, that's a shame," one of them said. The other swiftly struck him in his sternum.

"We didn't want any more of your money - you've already given us so much, cousin," this one said. Orion called them Oaf and Swindle. This was mainly because one was an idiot and the other was a sleazy silver-tongue. Either way, both of them were equally unlikeable, and it didn't help that they were always no more than five feet apart from each other. They've recently been leeching out of his pocket, trying to suck every penny from him into that damned candy trolley. Swindle's points were mainly reinforced by his mother's dooming words: "Take care of your cousins, Orion."

"Beat it," Orion snapped. Swindle frowned.

"Well, we were just going to give you company, but I guess you can do without." Swindle nabbed a chocolate frog from Oaf's pocket and tossed it to Orion. "Stop pouting, eat something."

Orion caught the candy half heartedly, and looked at his cousins. "Are you leaving, or not?" He sneered. Swindle winked at him and left with Oaf. Orion glumly returned to his place on the sill, staring back out at the grim trees. He considered opening up the chocolate frog after a while, and retrieved it from his side. He expected it to have melted because of the heat, but he did not prepare for the candy creature to leap onto his face.

"What the -?!" he exclaimed. It's sticky feet left a wet trail along his face. "Ugh!" He could NOT believe his luck right now. The commotion seemed to have woken up his cat, and now it was watching intently as its master fought a small frog off his face. In fact, he must have made quite the show, because now people were peering through his door to see what the heck was happening.

After tearing the vulgar creature off his face, he shot the onlookers a menacing glare, which only seemed to arouse laughter from them. It felt like a dementor had arrived just then in the train, sucking the life and hopes of happiness out of him.

"Hey, beat it, guys! I'll stick melted frogs on you and see how you feel after being laughed at." The voice was new to him. Then again, almost all were, but nobody had ever stood up for him before. All the laughter died down, and everyone slunk away, back to whatever hole they came from. Who remained was a lovely ginger girl that smiled at him through the glass.

Some irrational sexist hormone in his brain took her feminism as another insult to his dignity, but he corrected it almost immediately. Orion beckoned her inside and wiped his off face with a handkerchief. He carelessly threw the frog out the window. "Thanks," Orion said.

"No problem," the ginger girl said, "I'm Cecelia Weasley." She held out her hand. Shock went through Orion's body.

"Weasley?" he said. He took her hand, shaking it heartily. "I am Orion Potter!"

"Really?" Cecelia said with the same manner of excitement. "Perhaps it was fate that drew us together!"

That's not a bad fate, Orion thought to himself. He checked his mind. No, that seems absurd - a Potter and another Weasley?

Something moved in the corner of Orion's vision. "Hmm? Cecelia, it seems you have a shadow." Cecelia turned around.

"Oh, that's just my sister, Nashira." Nashira was out of sight as soon as her name was mentioned. Cecelia smiled at the spot she had been.

"She seems a tad young to start going to school here," Orion noted.

"Oh, no, she's not coming for that purpose." Cecelia turned around to Orion. "Nobody is around to look after her - and daycares are not exactly equipped for a witch child. She has to come with me so I can keep an eye on her." Nashira peered around the corner of the wall again, ogling the strange kid that was talking to her sister. "Oh, come on," she said, rolling her eyes, "Get in here!" Cecelia went out to fetch Nashira, leaving Orion temporarily alone. He drew the chocolate frog box from his pocket and found the special famous wizard card that always came with the box.

The card was Harry Potter.

Orion grimaced, doubting all of the luck and stories his grandfather had given him. Everything was downhill the minute he stepped into the magical community, and he owed it all to Harry Potter.

BANG

"Wanna say that again!? Say that to my bloody face!"

"I- I didn't mean it!"

BANG

"I AM NOT JUST A BLOODY BOTANIST, PUNK!"

BANG

Orion flung the card on his cat, intent on the happenings outside. He slipped out the door, searching for the scene of the uproar.

Some kid in steel-toed boots and a trench coat was aggressively staring down someone, holding a wand up to his throat. Everyone nearby watched in total astonishment. A black patch of carpet stood between the two of them, and the other kid's shoes were ruined to the point that his blackened toes were in sight. "If you DARE talk about my heritage again -!" the boy in the trench threatened.

"Hey, chill out," Cecelia said.

"What?" the boy hissed, affronted.

"I think you've made your point - there's no reason to make him any uglier than he already is." The victim was taken aback at the remark, which was followed shortly by a dirty look. Cecelia smiled at this. "And look at the carpet! Can you imagine what will happen when the conductor sees this?" The attacker contemplated her words for a moment, then withdrew his wand.

"Leave, scum," he snarled. The victim didn't need to be told twice. Orion was particularly surprised at how Cecelia handled the situation - she could deal with people so easily. . . Unlike him. The surrounding crowd broke up, muttering incoherently. Somebody suggested that they report this to an adult - but there was the point that the boy might blast the offender's head off if that happened. Orion did not doubt it.

"Come on, I think you can use some better company," Cecelia said, urging the boy to come with. Bewilderment met his eyes as soon as the words came out of her mouth. He scoffed and looked away.

"Trust me - you wouldn't want me in your car. Especially after what you witnessed."

"Well, I think it would be better if you were with us than someone like them." The boy looked back at the people who insulted him, or at least who was assumed to have insulted him.

"Fine," he said curtly, "Don't say I didn't tell you so." He brushed past Cecelia and into the car they had sat in, not even looking at Orion. Orion caught Cecelia's eye, but she simply smiled and followed him in. Orion came inside after Nashira filed in after her older sister. The boy that nearly killed someone over a remark sat silently in the corner of the car, staring out the window with his arms crossed. Orion carefully sat across from him, stroking Artemis.

"So. . . What's your name?" Cecelia asked.

"Longbottom." He offered no first name.

". . . Okay. I'm Cecelia Weasley, and this is Orion Potter." The Longbottom boy gazed at each of them in turn, but said nothing. Orion would have been excited to see another famous-blooded figure with him had he not found this guy so scary.

Cecelia, obviously the most social one, tried to break the awkward silence, "Wow, just like Grandma always said the first ride would be like! I'm already meeting new friends, and there has already been a fight, and a chocolate frog gone wrong. . .This is the coolest thing ever!" She seemed as though she could have gone on and on about the magic (no pun intended) on the train to Hogwarts, but by then, Nashira had slowly inched herself into the car. Cecelia smiled, and whispered something to her sister, probably reassuring her about the two strange boys that were also in the area. "Oh, and, uh, Longbottom, this here," Cecelia said after a moment, "this is Nashira. Say 'hi', Nashira!" The little red headed figure on Cecelia's lap made no effort to say a word, or even smile. All she did was stare menacingly at the boy.

Orion wasn't sure if he should ask why Nashira had come along. Most wizards looked forward to their first travel to Hogwarts, but Nashira looked almost too young to be able to remember it. He thought quietly to himself how bad that would be; to go on your way to school for the first time, meeting the most wonderful people, and then be too young to remember what was going on. As if reading his thought, Cecelia began speaking again.

"Nashira is little, see?" she said. "Mum can't look after her because she's teaching, and Dad works for the Ministry. She had to come with me. Look at her - she is in no shape to be staying home alone, now is she?" She was making faces as though she was talking gibberish to a baby.

"No," Longbottom said bluntly.

"Yeah. . ." Cecelia said, her voice drifting off. She was obviously keeping something from the other two. Orion didn't want to push her, but just continued to look out his window. The trees were endless; there were columns of green surrounding green, and there was more green around that. It was beautiful, and he lost himself in the perfect nature of it all. Artemis had fallen asleep again, right on top of his leg, but he didn't mind. He felt like he belonged, even if he didn't know these people. Cecelia was pretty; she had red hair, just like almost any Weasely, and a perfect smile. Her teeth were straight, and her eyes were the darkest shade of green that they almost seemed to be the hue in the trees they were passing. Her cheeks were angular and sharp looking, but they helped make her look older. Nashira looked very similar, but her smaller eyes were almost black, and her teeth were all but perfect. She was missing a couple in the front. Her face was round, still chubbed up with baby fat. She might be pretty someday, but those eyes were unnerving.

Without realizing it, Orion had gone from staring out the window to staring at the girls in the car. He had never actually looked at a girl. Not at her beauty. There was something inside of him telling him that looking at her was wrong, but he couldn't stop himself. He had never seen a girl so pretty before. He wrenched his eyes away, and looked back out the window, realizing why he felt weird inside. The two of them were practically cousins; it would be wrong to ever fall in love with her. Well, so he supposed - many wizard generations made away with pureblood only through inbreeding. . .

Orion then let his attention fall on Longbottom. To be honest, he was pretty sure he would lose all control over his bodily functions should the boy ever cast his wand in his direction. He had blond hair, cut short but allowed to lay flat on its own against his head on its own accord, which matched his rather pale appearance. Orion could faintly see some scars on his face, but he was too far to tell. He was not sure if he even wanted to tell, but they were there, regardless. The boy had large boots, steel-toed as Orion noted before, and looked military-issue. Matched with the trench coat, Orion had no idea what kind of family this kid came from. He noticed holes in the trench where knives would have been stored, but it seems as if those were stripped from him before he got on, and now all that was left in their place were lengths of stitches.

A chill went down Orion's spine. What use would wizard's have for knives? For cutlery, he could understand, but people didn't carry around knives for fun - especially the kitchen kind. Orion speculated that he might have pistols in his boots, but he disregarded his musings. Perhaps the boy was only paranoid - magic was not allowed in the muggle world, after all. From the looks of things, Longbottom must have come from a bad neighborhood, despite his bloodline.

Longbottom moved. "I'm going to get changed," he said, and left. Orion looked out the window, his cat still purring atop his knee, contentedly asleep. Nashira gazed after Longbottom. The dull trees shifted, opening up into a vast, open prairie. Orion looked on, slightly more relaxed, and tons less depressed.

"We're almost there," Cecelia noted.

"Yeah," Orion said. Cecelia gave him a peculiar look.

"Aren't you excited for Hogwarts?" Orion did not reply. Cecelia left Nashira's side and came beside Orion's. "Is there something wrong?"

"Yeah. . . My grandfather often told me about how great Hogwarts was, and all of its mysteries, with its magic and such. . . But people never held any great regard for me, no matter where I came from. And, you know, this is the first time I'm beginning to doubt everything my family has told me. . ." Orion sighed. "You are the first person to actually acknowledge my presence here, save for the jerks who laughed when that damned frog attacked my face. It's not a bad thing, but I don't foresee this school year being that great if I can't get along with new people." Cecelia look as if she were going to say something, but a hard knocking came at the glass door. Everyone's eyes turned to it to see Oaf and Swindle, making obscene tongue gestures at Orion in particular. Orion felt his face burn red, with either rage or longing he did not know, as his pride was once again wounded.

Fortunately, Longbottom came around to the door.

His shadow alerted the two, and they looked up at his glaring eyes. The color slowly drew out of their skin, and they backed away rather quickly. Longbottom came inside the car, no longer obstructed by further impudence, and took to his seat once again. He was rather skinny, especially with the custom fit robes, but he still kept on his military-grade boots. Cecelia raised a brow at this.

"You're going to get licked for that, you know," she said.

"Licked? For what?" Longbottom scoffed. He had a good point - Orion couldn't imagine an adult who could keep up against his malevolent force, even from only what he had seen in that brief of spurt of action. Cecelia looked pensively at Longbottom's boots, but pursued no further on the subject. She might as well be trying to tell a brick wall to put on trousers.

Knowing that she couldn't argue, Cecelia tried to say something else, "Aren't you excited to be on your way to Hogwarts? We are almost there, and I am just bursting with excitement!" As she spoke, Nashira bounced up and down in her lap. It must not have been a comfortable ride.

"I am just a bundle of joy, here," Longbottom said. "You can see the happiness glowing in my eyes. My mouth is widened in the biggest grin humanly possible on a face such as mine. My teeth are shining out of my mouth, as I cannot contain my smile. There is nothing about me that goes against the idea of going to my first year at a wizarding school."

Cecelia's smile faded again. Longbottom's words had shut her mouth. His dark sarcasm would drive her crazy sometime, but she did her best to stay composed. Even if there was tension in the car, Cecelia had her way of hiding it. She took her attention off of Longbottom, who was obviously not inclined to say anything more, and started playing with Nashira's hands. At some point Orion heard her saying, "Phalanges, phalanges, phalanges," whilst sticking her fingers in her sister's face. Nashira's eyes lit up, and she laughed, and smiled. Orion had been right about his thoughts earlier. She would be pretty some day.

Something about the way that Cecelia acted with her sister drew Orion to her. She was so loving with Nashira, like there was nothing in the world Cecelia wouldn't do for her. It was the type of love that only a family could share. He had no brothers, no sisters, no siblings whatsoever. His parents were hardly around at home, leaving him to be alone most days with his grandparents. He never had felt the love that a sister could have given him. He never felt the love that his parents could provide to him, if they were around long enough to see him. The only love he ever felt was the love he received from Harry and Ginny. The only love he had ever given to anybody was back to the same two people. He felt so alone, now. Nashira had a sister to look after her, and he was sure even the scary Longbottom had a brother or two. He missed his grandparents more than anything right now. Harry always had a story to tell about his days at Hogwarts, or Ginny always had some cookies baking for later. Here, there were no cookies. Here, there were no stories. Here, there were strangers. He didn't want strangers.

He just wanted to be at Hogwarts already, exploring what his grandparents already had. Orion pulled out the Marauder's Map from his pocket. It was worn out and slightly torn from use before - he could only imagine the trouble his parents could have gotten into with this. And now it was his. . . what's the sentence used to activate it again? Orion dug into the wrinkles of his mind, trying to conjure up the words his grandfather had used in his stories.

Orion gave up trying to remember, shoving the note back into his pockets. He was almost there, Cecelia had said so, and now he was excited. He felt like standing up, stretching his legs, but Artemis was still asleep on his leg. He contented himself instead with asking Cecelia a question. "What house do you want to be put into?"

Cecelia looked up at him shyly, as if she wasn't sure if he was really asking her something or not. "I'm a Weasley," she said, and her voice sounded as if it were far away for a moment. It cleared back up when she continued what she was saying, "I have to be put in Gryffindor. It will be a shame if I don't, and Mum and Pa would not be proud of me. They were both in Gryffindor, and so were Ron, and Hermione, Fred and George, and Percy. . . it would be terrible if I didn't end up there." She gave a half-hearted smile, as if unsure that was what she really wanted. "If I end up in Hufflepuff, I will just have to tell everybody that the hat is getting a bit too old for its job."

Orion chuckled lightly. "They haven't gotten a new hat since before Grandpa was put in gryffindor. I wouldn't be surprised if he started flubbing everything up," he said.

"Flub?" Longbottom said. "Of all the word you could say, you chose 'flub'. You are much worse company than I thought."

"Oh don't be a sour-puss," Cecelia said to the quieter one. "I bet you would've found a word much worse than flub."

"You bet I would," Longbottom said, glaring evilly at Cecelia. "I can come up with multiple words to use other than flub. Let me tell you, one of them starts with the letter 'f', and it rhymes with duck. And it ain't firetruck."

Cecelia opened her mouth as if to reply, but the train had started to slow, and Nashira had started freaking out about it. Longbottom smiled, well, it was more of a sneer, really, and he ducked out of the door. Orion and Cecelia readied themselves. "At least you got him to talk," Orion remarked. Orion took out his dolley of objects from under his seat, lugging it out after Cecelia as she pulled her own dolley out from one of the above compartments.

The rain was pounding outside, striking the ground until it was nothing but mud. Artemis hid between the layers of Orion's coat to stay warm, looking soaked just from moments of rain. He was purring against Orion's chest, happy to be warm. After Orion hopped into the mud, he turned to see Cecelia struggling with her dolley. He knew that this was his chance, maybe he could win her over with kindness. "Do you need help with that?"

Cecelia smiled half-heartedly in return, as if to say yes. Orion moved his dolley out of the way of the steps, and held out his arms. Cecelia lifted hers up as high as she could, and dropped it at gently as she could into his arms. It was heavy though, and Orion's knees buckled from the weight, almost making him fall. He stayed standing, but just barely, and Artemis yowled angrily from beneath his jacket. "Shut up, you stupid cat!" Orion hissed.

By then Cecelia had come down off the train and was brushing Nashira's coat like there were leaves covering it. She was completely unaware that Orion had been talking to his cat, and said, "What was that, Oreo?"

Oh great, Orion thought. She already has a nickname for me. "I was talking to Artemis." When Cecelia's face was blank after he said that, he continued to explain the best that he could, "My uh. . .cat. My cat. His name is Artemis."

"Oh," she said. Nashira was whimpering quietly, and Cecelia switched her attention to her sister. Orion set down the dolley, great big owl eyes staring back at him. "It's okay, Shira, it's okay. Look, they are good! They make the flowers pretty, see? They make the flowers grow big and pretty, just like you! Oh, please wipe up the tears, please? You have no need to cry, these are the tears of the sky, not your tears. Look over there, see? There was. . ."

Orion stopped listening. The rain was pattering angrily against his face, and his skin was beginning to burn from the sharpness of the droplets. His robes were soaked through already, and the only warmth was the little body of his cat against him. He was about to begin shivering, but he looked at Cecelia. It was as if she couldn't shiver. She was too focused on keeping her sister happy to have the thought to shiver. Orion shook his head, and tried his best to shake away the cold. He had to look strong. It would suck for a girl to act stronger than him.

Longbottom bumped into Orion, making him drop Cecelia's dolley. Longbottom rescued it successfully from the deep clutches of the mud, as if he was trying to impress Cecelia. Longbottom shot him a look, knowing everything from the start, and handed it to Cecelia. "Keep a sturdier grip, Potter," Longbottom said mockingly. Cecelia only nodded in thanks, unaware of the words that passed between the two.

Longbottom shoved past Orion, a smirk on his face. A new kind of hate had developed inside of him, and he stared after him in disdain. A crack of thunder whipped through the air, frightening more tears out of Nashira's eyes. Orion thought about showing Longbottom a thing or two, but a cold, steely presence sucked everything out of him. No, it wasn't the rain. . . It was much worse than that. He felt his very soul wither and dry to this, everything happy he ever remembered, lost. Despair. It seemed to devour him. . .

Cecelia backed up into him, snapping some sense of conscious into the boy. He rounded about himself, and cast his gaze in the direction Cecelia's was staring, and saw a hooded figure. The robe it wore was ratty and worn, as if it were stolen from a decayed man's body. It's face was masked by darkness, made even more so by the black that it emanated. It turned everything around it cold and blue, making the trees look as if they died right on the spot. Orion racked his brain to remember what this creature was; Harry would never stop talking about these things. They were. . .

"Dementors!" Cecelia breathed.

There hadn't been a dementor attack since Voldemort had been killed, at least not outside of Azkaban. Cecelia and Orion were both first year students, and had no training whatsoever for this sort of stuff. There was no way for them to protect themselves.

Nashira cried harder, evidently because of the beast in front of her. Everyone kept their distance, stepping away from the thing. It remained motionless, as if it were pondering ways to kill its victims. Longbottom thrust his wand in its path, lips moving to say something, but a gargantuan figure stepped in his way and cast the spell: "Expecto Patronum!"

A lion leaped out of the wand, blazing whiter than the full moon, and chased the dementor away. With a guttural murmur, it left back into the shadows. The lion swooped around the outskirts of the forest, scanning it for any more beasties, and returned to its rightful place. The children gathered around stared at the user in awe.

He was large - three times larger than a normal man, perhaps, with a ginger beard of equal size to boot. His eyes were beady, sunk back into generous amounts of beef and hair, but the height of which the kids looked at him probably had something to do with it as well. The wand he weld was as thick as a tree branch, which was grasped between meaty fingers bigger than that. It was unceremoniously stuck in the man's beard, and he unpleasantly scratched his bum.

"Well, now, that's enough excitement for today. You tykes are barely into school and you jus' had yerselves a magical encounter 'lready. Come on! We got d'stance ta cover." He had a strange accent - thick, like a pirate almost, but more civilized, if that made any sense. The man hefted his huge body into a boat, which racked itself violently as he got in, and seemed to sink two inches lower. Everyone just seemed to stare at him.

"Eh? Aren't ye going ta get in?" he said. Cecelia took Orion's unwilling arm and volunteered first, wordlessly throwing her stuff in and taking her hostage. Nashira silently came with, no longer sobbing. "That's better, now. We got room fer one more, if anybody's interested." The Longbottom boy raised his hand, and stepped out of the crowd. Orion felt shock go through Cecelia's body, but he was too busy feeling the hot anger boil in his own. If he had to be stuck with this freak again. . .

He could jeopardize everything. Orion shook his head, throwing aside any thought of that. So what if he knew Orion fancied Cecelia? At least he could enjoy being her hostage. . .

"All righty, then. Let's get goin', then, shall we?" The giant man pushed the boat away from the dock - with notable difficulty, as the bottom of the boat seemed to be scraping against the sandy floor. "Yeah, there be others for you! I'd quit mah job if it was jus' me!" the large man reassured, sweeping his oar across the water.

There were groans from the other first years, upset that they were stuck in the rain. It was kind of their fault for not hopping on when asked to, but they realized their mistake as soon as they remembered how cold it was. There were about 10 people who fit on the small boat, but, with the giant, only four could barely fit in.

"All righty, then," the big man said, his voice unnaturally loud. "Me name is Pippin Palmer Hagrid. I would have ye call me PP, but the name don' seem to agree with me. Anyhow, welcome to Hogwarts!" The gang just stared at the giant man. He pointed in the opposite direction. "The main sight's up there."

Orion turned around to see a huge wall looming over him, lined with forever-burning torches. Owls stormed the area, diving down across the water, majestically skimming the water's surface with the tips of their wings. Orion thought he could make out letters between their talons. He remembered this in his grandfather's stories - owls were the mailmen of the world. Or, in this case, mailbirds.

The boat continued moving, the full front of the Hogwarts castle unveiling before his eyes. Caged in a fence of iron, the enormous edifice burned bright against the night sky, pure magic resounding off of its ancient walls. Turrets and towers shot up into the air, scarring the sky with gorgeous long fingers. The boat hit a mound of sand, beaching itself too far from shore. "Ah, not again. No worries, lads, I'll fix it," Hagrid said. He hopped out of the boat, pushing the boat further in while Cecelia, Longbottom, and Orion were still busy gazing at the castle.

Orion felt the boat yield on shore, grinding the ground below it as it slowly came to a halt. Hagrid grunted, and forced the boat further ashore with one final push.

"All righty, then," Hagrid said. "Get off. We're here." Orion expected Longbottom to make a rude comment about Hagrid's excessive use of "All righty, then," but none came. Orion heaved his stuff out of the boat, volunteering to take out Cecelia's as well. Unfortunately, Longbottom grabbed his own and Cecelia's at the same time and simply walked out of the boat. A fresh rush of blood and anger came through Orion, but he kept his mouth shut.

More boats were landing, and other kids were dropping off. Hagrid wasn't the fastest rower, so that might have had something to do with it. Orion didn't even notice the other boats arrive on the other side, but there was no sense in worrying about that now. He was more worried with keeping Artemis from squirming in his robes, and dragging his stuff through the mud. Other people followed - some taller, more were even taller. He was pretty sure he would end up being the shortest kid in the school. Not that it mattered, but it was just another small, grim note to make his day a little worse.

Solid ground finally met his feet. He sighed, thankful to finally be on school grounds. . . Or at least the concrete kind. He shot a glance at Cecelia, just to make sure she was still there, and continued through the crowd. Nashira followed her closely, keeping small, pale hand attached to her sister's.

Hagrid drew a key from his beard, striding to the main gate, and stuck it in the keyhole. The latch clicked harshly, and the grinding metal opened up to let everyone in. The doors of the school opened, cracking open as light pierced their eyes. Without any aid, it swung inwards, casting candlelight over the students. There were jaws dropped all around; the magic and beauty of the school had never changed throughout the years. The school was exactly as Harry had described it - the magic in the room was evident, and ghosts lumbered around carelessly. A young witch smiled gently at the students, ushering them inside. "Welcome to Hogwarts!" she said in a light voice, "The Great Hall is only to the right. I'm sure you have all heard of the sorting that happens before the beginning of the year banquet, and that ceremony will happen shortly. If you are unaware, this important and historical ritual will break you up into four different houses - and every one is just as great as the other.

"After the sorting, I, Professor Allium will show you around the rest of the school. There are many sites to see, and after exploring, you will have the freedom to lounge in the commons of your house. First let's see the main corridor, and then we will go to the Great Hall for the renowned feast! Well come on now - don't just stand there, let's get going!"

The first hall they entered was cast with a yellowish glow, warming the wet students from the inside out. Hagrid broke off from there, beaming away at the new students to be accepted into Hogwarts. Oh, everybody was starry eyed, staring at the magic they would soon be a part of.

Ms. Allium led everyone into the Great Hall, where plenty of gasps emerged from the group of children. The dining hall was full of chatter and laughs. When the doors had opened, the students went silent, as if surprised by the newcomers. The new students tentatively walked in, looking around the huge expanse. The ceiling showed the dreadful sky above, pouring down from the stark, gray clouds. At the end of the cafeteria, a set of tables seating teachers resided. Someone set up a stool in the middle of the silence, and a hideous hat was placed atop it. Orion remembered this thing, but only barely. This thing was only mentioned once in the stories told by him years ago. . .

"That's called the sorting hat, Nashira," Cecelia whispered. The name rang a bell - no, a gong - in Orion's head. "Remember Grandma's stories? Don't worry - you won't have to wear it, not today."

The sorting hat was even more tattered than what Harry had recounted. At least that's what Orion thought. The battered tears ran across almost the entire body of the pointed cap, making it unable to sit upright alone. To keep it at least half-standing, it was kept up by the hands of the Headmaster, and even he could hardly keep the hat up. It sat motionless for a while, the only movement being the headmaster's hands wrestling it into a suitable position. Everybody seemed to be holding their breath, and then, suddenly, the hat burst into song:

"_Nearly 100 years, a lifetime that brings me to joyful tears._

_Another class begins, and um. . .they have their sins._

_Yeah, that._

_And now, we see, I will soon place thee,_

_Into the house, into the home,_

_Into the world of the wizarding. . .cone!_

_Welcome you kids, and uh. . ._

_Yeah._"

Everyone gave bewildered stares at the hat's speech. Orion felt sort of disappointed - the hat sounded more stoned than wise. Harry was able to recite the very first poem word by word, thought that was only because of a little magic. Even now, the hat mumbled to itself a number of verses from its last years, but it surely wasn't worthy of singing it now. Now he looked forward to the year even less. Where was this cracked up old thing going to put him in, now?

"Good luck getting into Gryffindor," Longbottom hissed to Cecelia. The Weasley girl looked downcast, doubting her own chances and honor. Orion longed to put a comforting arm around her, but, alas. . .

"Now, let's get to it then!" the sorting hat shouted. Then it seemed to fall asleep for a moment, but it reawoke and blared, "Alscott, Kyle!"

A small black haired boy with bright blue eyes stepped shakily up to the hat. He seemed to be slumbering off, but the headmaster cleared his throat, waking him up again.

"Wha-" he started, as Kyle landed beneath his hem. "Oh, er. . . um. . . Ravenclaw?"

There was an explosion of noise as the students of Ravenclaw house gave a round of applause. Many of the others did not take his confused choice well. "Are you sure about your choice, Mr. Hat?" one of the prefects objected openly. The hat seem to make a face out of itself, as if it were never called by that name before. By the looks of things, it never looked like the thing was asked anything directly, let alone christened something.

"Of course!" it barked, "I'm not done for, yet! Have any of you found any of my judgements a failure?" It was a good question, and it rose quite a commotion, but it all was smothered by a wave of Professor Allium's hand.

The hat groaned to himself before barking out the name of the next student. "Aberforth, Daniel!" Another boy took his place beneath the hat, and was shaking within his bones he was so nervous. The hat made more grumbling noises before whispering, "Slytherin." When nobody burst out into cheering, he realize that Daniel was the only one who had heard him, and he repeated himself with a shout, "SLYTHERIN! Did you not hear me? I say-"

The Headmaster cleared his throat, making the hat fall silent. Daniel slowly walked to his new house, where he was welcomed by pats on the back. "All right, um. . . NEXT!" Nobody approached the hat, and he struggled with the next name. "Brogramiston, Kayleigh!"

A girl with boy short hair walked confidently up to the hat. The moment the hat was atop her head, it yowled a house that was barely able to be made out, "HUFFLYPUFFIN!" She slowly walked to the Hufflepuff table, all eyes on the girl. The headmaster leaned close to the hat and whispered something. The hat made a motion that could be described as a nod, and called out the next name.

By then, Orion had stopped paying attention, and started looking at Ceci. Ceci? He had already created a nickname for her? It must not have been that much of a surprise; she had already started calling him Oreo. Ceci? He was surprised by himself. Yet, the nickname came so easy, and - wait. . . he got that name from Nashira. Nashira must have had trouble saying Cecelia, and had called her Ceci. It wasn't a nickname of his own, and Orion was slightly disappointed in himself. She deserved more than one nickname; he needed one for just the two of them. He liked it when he said those words in his head, Just the two of them. He shook the thought away. She would never let that happen. It would never just be the two of them; there would always be a Nashira to look after, or a Longbottom getting in the way. Now that he thought of it, he recognized that name.

Harry had mentioned a Longbottom sometime in one of his stories, so why couldn't he remember which one? It was a famous bloodline, he knew that. He knew it from the train. But where, just where, had he heard this name before? He thought the name was something like Nelson, or Newson. . . No, it was something else? But what? Orion was pulled out of his thoughts by the words of the hat.

"Oreen Potthead!" he heard. He looked up, expecting laughter to roar around the hall. None came. In fact, in place of laughter, there came discreet muttering between the people inside the hall. The main words circulating around being, "Has it lost its mind?" The sorting hat scowled at everyone.

"Potter! Where is he?" he boomed. The voices died down, and Orion stood up. In complete silence, he strode up to the stool, and the headmaster sat the dirty old hat upon his crown, leaving him in darkness. Orion bluntly stared at the inside of the hat's fabric, aged and thin. "So, Potter, eh? Blood of the. . . The, umm. . ." the hat continued to mutter to itself. Orion could hear it clearly, distinguishing his thoughts. Or maybe it was its own. "Uhuh. . .that guy who killed that other guy. The Potter! I remember him! Yeah. . . the Potter. Which means you should be in. . ." All Orion could think was Not Slytherin, please, not Slytherin. The hat stood up, actually becoming straight on its own, screaming, "GRYFFINDOR," into the hall.

Orion breathed a sigh of relief, as he walked his way over to his table. For once, the table of Gryffindor roared into applause. He glanced at Cecelia, who seemed even more anxious than ever before. Orion contented himself with gazing into her face until the hat's voice bellowed a new name. He looked back at the stool, where the hat jovially announced "SLYTHERIN."

More applause came to, this time from everybody. For a moment, it seemed as though the hat regained its senses. The names continued for a while, the trend of applause becoming louder with each name. Shortly following Hilda Stross, the name, "Styxe, Sigma!" was thrown into the air.

Longbottom stood up.

Orion caught his breath. Sigma Styxe?! How does he claim to be of Longbottom hierarchy with a name like that? His steel-clad boots clashed against the tile floor, making those nearby wince with every step. Sigma glared at those around him, his slow ascent reaching maximum anticipation when he finally reached the stool. He chose to stand.

The headmaster placed the hat atop his head, concealing his placid face behind its faded cloth. The sorting hat took a lot of time contemplating Styxe, wriggling from side to side with indecision. Its speech patterns seemed to grow faster, and its motions became wilder. It seemed like it had really went out of its mind, but then it shouted with filibuster, "SLYTHERFFINDOR!"

An eerie silence took place. Sigma lifted the cap up. "Well?" he said. Suggestive claps came from both Gryffindor and Slytherin, but general confusion seemed aplenty between both. Professor Allium got to her feet, declaring, "Sigma here will belong to both Gryffindor and Slytherin. Let there not be any confusion, and may he be welcomed with open arms to both houses!" As far as Orion knew, there was nobody in the world who was admitted to two houses at once. He wondered what implications would follow this, which was replaced by I hope he stays in Slytherin.

Contrary to his thoughts, Sigma marched his way to the Gryffindor table, taking a lonely seat by the edge of the table. "Tallek, Alfred!" the hat continued. Orion resumed zoning out. There was probably people at his table trying to talk to him; other upperclassmen had already begun teasing him, and the other first years were trying to make conversation. But, again, he was too focused on looking at Cecelia to notice.

She was nervous, but she somehow found a way to keep calm, at least to the common eye. When her name was called, she visibly jumped. She grabbed Nashira's hand, and walked slowly up to the hat, who had slipped back into madness. Nashira stood beside her as the headmaster lifted the hat off the stool without a word, and the hat grumbled in annoyance. "I haven't got all day, Weasley!"

**Cecelia squirmed under the hat, her vision taken over by the hat's inside as others had experienced before. The hat mulled over her thoughts for a bit, then finally came to a consensus with, "GRYFFINDOR!"**

Cecelia breathed a sigh of relief, her hard grip on Nashira's hand loosening. She happily went over to the Gryffindor table, taking a seat next to Orion. People moved over to accommodate her and her sister. Orion was about to scoot an inch closer to Cecelia when she plopped Nashira down in between them. "I hope you don't mind her being there," Cecelia said. "I wouldn't trust having her sit next to somebody I don't know."

Orion nodded his head. "Of course," Orion said. "I understand."

"Thanks," Cecelia said. "For understanding."

Cecelia and Orion looked into each other's eyes before looking at the headmaster who had begun to speak. "Welcome, to a new year at Hogwarts! Now, before we begin our feast, I have some choice words to say: Cream cheese. Nugget. London." Orion remembered Harry saying something about Dumbledore saying random words to start off the evening, but he never thought they would be that random. "Let's eat!" The old teacher said with a clap of his hands. Foods of all sorts arrived on top of the tables, and people immediately scooped their hands into the food, and dug right in as if they hadn't eaten in weeks.

Orion looked at Cecelia to see her scooping a bit of mashed potatoes onto a plate for Nashira, who seemed to be very picky about what she was eating. Orion didn't think he would receive the look he had hoped to be returned, so he picked up his plate and began scooping some peas onto his plate. Soon, a plate of some roasted chicken came his way, and he grabbed a wing or two. Oaf came by and stole from his plate, snickering as he went away. Orion shot him a venomous look, but held his tongue for Cecelia's sake.

There was plenty of food to go around, anyway, so his temper quickly cooled down. He collected more of the food that went around, which made his plate a precarious tower of foodstuffs. He spotted some rolls, and reached for them.

Cecelia reached for a roll at the same time. Their hands met, and to Orion, the world seemed to stop, or go into slow motion. He saw her hand, and his, touching. Her hand was slender, and her fingers were long. Her hands had a beautiful pigment to them; not too tan, not too pale. Her nail were painted a beautiful maroon, as if she was preparing to be put into Gryffindor the entire time. They were perfect hands, perfect in every way, and his hand was touching hers. He pulled his hand away, embarrassed by his own thoughts. A hand was not something you thought of as something pretty, but yet, he found himself thinking as such. Cecelia slowly pulled her hands away as well, not even thinking to make eye contact with Orion. She decided to go for something else, no longer enticed by the rolls. She instead scooped herself a bit of creamed corn.

Orion found a way to push away his thoughts of the rolls and decided to take more casserole, despite the meal that still sat on his golden plate, but a head burst from the plate. He leaped backwards, falling off his chair and summoning a wave of laughter. The head elevated into the air, a body following as a finger waved at Orion. "Now, now, don't you think you ought to finish what you already have before doing that?" the ghost said. Orion paled. This was an actual ghost! Chiding him! His eyes grew wider. The roars of laughter followed in size.

Someone bowed down to help him up, Orion pointing a shaking finger at the poltergeist. "It's a gh- gh-" he stuttered stupidly.

The ghost bowed. "Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, at your service." The first years stared at his transparent form as the upperclassmen laughed and clapped.

"Aren't you Nearly Headless Nick?" Cecelia inquired. Nicholas frowned.

"I'd prefer something rather -"

"Your head looks pretty intact to me," she said. "You don't seem the slightest bit headless."

At that, Nick indignantly pulled on his hair, and his head was yanked to the side as well. There was just a teensy bit of tissue and skin holding the head in the neck to the rest of the body. Many of the first years groaned in disgust, the graphic sight disagreeing with their innocent minds. Nearly Headless Nick grew a satisfied smile, and returned his head to its rightful place. "Now, has Ms. Allium told you about the competition for the House Cup?"

Orion found his way back to his seat as several "No"s were said from the new comers. "Hmm. . . She hasn't been here very long, so I suppose she can be excused this time. At the end of the year, the House Cup will be awarded to the house with the most points. Gryffindor has been long standing in its victories, but it seems Ravenclaw has broken our streak, recently. It would behoove us all if you first years did something about this." Nick winked at everyone, and then disappeared back through the table. One of the prefects called attention to everyone at the table. He had remarkably red hair, and had some distinguishable features that were very similar to. . .

"Nearly Headless Nick brings a good point!" the prefect said, "We can't let Ravenclaw take the cup again! Let's not lose the pace - we got to step up the game!" Agreement came from around the table. Orion wasn't sure how these points were to be awarded, but he guessed he would soon find that out. Cecelia leaned over to her sister, pointing to the red-haired prefect.

"Look, Nashira, it's Gary! Isn't big brother so in charge?" Nashira nodded to her sister's words, a rare smile cracking on her face. So, she has a big brother. . . She's going to be an obsession soon, if you don't stop it, the voice in Orion's head hissed. Orion pulled away his interests, focusing on eating his food. Desserts had just begin to arrive, and he was barely through with his main courses. It all tasted delicious, of course, but he wasn't sure he could power through the rest of it.

"You don't have to eat all of it, if that's what you're thinking," the kid next to him said. He had a German accent, though he was careful to make use of every syllable and grammatical addition. Orion perked up. He was being spoken to? "You are a Potter, yes?" Orion turned to see this new face, who looked back at him with bright, curious eyes.

"Yes," he responded, "I am Orion Potter."

"Good," the German kid said with a smile. "I am Oscar Blant." He put out his hand. Orion shook it. "Pleased to meet you." Orion looked back at all of the sugary goods that landed on the table.

"So, um. . . What do I do with the food if I don't eat it?" Oscar took his plate, making sure Orion was watching, and tossed his food into the air.

The food disappeared.  
"Easy," Oscar said punctually. Whoa. Harry never said anything about that.

Orion disposed of his food, letting it all vanish into thin air, and then greedily grabbed some cream puffs. "What do you like, Oscar?" Orion asked, trying to strike up a conversation as Cecelia would have.

"Me?" he said, surprised, "I always crave Pecan Pie. I am not sure why. . . Maybe it is the nuttiness. Yeah, I like nuts. . ." Orion gave him a look. Oscar realized what had just came out of his mouth. "No, no! I didn't mean it that way!" Laughter erupted from everyone within ears of the conversation, including him.

After much of the raucous had died down, the headmaster called attention. Everybody immediately quieted. When the headmaster was sure he had everybody's attention, he said, "The feast is now close to over. I hope you have shown all of your new house members respect and kindness. Coming from teenagers, I am not so hopeful, but I have my wishes. However, I bring grim tidings to the people of Hogwarts. It may sound like rumors today, but I have seen it with my own eyes." He looked seriously at his audience, anxiety burning the air inside the room. "The dementors have broken loose from Azkaban." A round of gasps went around the hall. Hagrid stood up.

"Aye! We saw one jus' as the newbies came out of the train. I fended it off, there, but I've no doubts we'll be hit again by 'em." Silence overtook the place, only the lonely pattering of rain breaking complete quiet. The headmaster took up the hole in the noise,

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!" His happiness seemed utterly out of place. "Prefects - please show your first years around the place, and bring them to their commons!"

There were restless dings and clicks of the plates as people finished what they had left. Rustles came from around Orion, and he got up with everyone else. Gary took the forefront of the group and led them out of the dining hall. Pushed ahead by the crowd, he glanced back at Cecelia. She didn't take notice. His vision strayed and met Oscar's, and the German student hurried to his side. "Where are we going?" Orion asked.

"The commons," Oscar replied, "I think that's what he said." Oscar looked around blankly. "What do you think about all the dementors?"

Orion didn't respond at first, but then he realized Oscar asked him a question. He paused for a moment to rephrase his question in his head, then replied, "I don't honestly know. My grandfather talked a lot about the dementors, but I've never seen one in real life. . ."

"Until now," someone said. Orion and Oscar whirled to the new voice, almost tripping over themselves in their march to the dormitories. It was Longbottom. . . Or Sigma. "I didn't think I would see those bastards again. . ."

"Again?" Oscar queried. Sigma refused to speak any more of it. Oscar shot Orion a perplexed look that Orion sent right back. Why would he know how, or why, Sigma had seen a dementor? It was just as confusing to him as it was to Oscar. But he was about to do something when that dementor appeared, before Hagrid came and disposed of it. That has to mean something. . .

He bumped into someone, snapping him out of deep thought. The party had halted in front of a portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress. "Password?" she said.

"Gray monkey," Gary said. The portrait swung forward, revealing a hole in the wall. The prefect ushered everyone in, people climbing inside one by one. When it was Orion's turn, he creeped out into a cozy living room-like area, decorated with couches, batique, and a fireplace. A small library was built into a wall, and Orion came up to grab a book - however, Gary struck his hand. "As much as there is to explore in here, you will have to save it for later. Right now, it is important that you get to you rooms and ready yourselves for tomorrow. You'll find that the house elves have already taken your stuff up to their respective dormitories - I don't think they used any particular order, so be prepared to get stuck with somebody you don't know. All right! Girls on the left, and boys on the right!"

The first years sorely went to their respective rooms, forcing their excitement down for the next day. Oscar pulled Orion up the stairs to a room that was labelled with his name on it. Through closer inspection, Oscar found his own name on it, as well. "Looks like we're stuck together," Orion said mildly.

"Yeah," Oscar replied, going in first. The room wasn't overly huge - it was just enough to hold four teenage boys. Orion didn't have many belongings - the stuff that he had to buy for wizarding was the most he ever owned in his life. His cat wormed out of his shirt, startling Orion for a minute. He completely forgot Artemis was still with him throughout the entire meal. His cat ran up to the bundles of stuff wrapped up in a chest and sat there.

Orion didn't remember dropping it, nor did he really remember where he would have let go of it. Nonetheless, it was here, and he was rummaging through the numerous piles for some decent clothes to sleep in. A creepy hissing took place behind him, he glanced back to see Longbottom. Sigma, he told himself. He would have felt resent toil in his breast, but he noticed a new thing join the ranks.

Sigma finished doing something on the nightstand before him, and moved aside. There, wrapped around his lamp, was a snake!

He should have stayed in slytherin, Orion thought bitterly. Instead of saying what was on his mind, he tried to be nice, "What's the snake named?" Sigma gave him a look of daggers, though it seemed like it was something that was more natural than anything else.

"Good night, Potter," was all that Sigma said in response.

Disappointed, Orion grabbed at Artemis, and plopped down on his bed. He was tired. Almost too tired to deal with Sigma. "Goodnight, Styxe," he responded, almost coldly.

"It's Longbottom, Potter," Sigma said. He lay down on his own bed, and looked up at the ceiling. "I am Longbottom."

Orion rolled over on his bed, facing the opposite direction of Longbottom. He snuggled close to his cat, and thought of how much he missed being at home already.


	2. Firsts

A/N MOOHAHA! This turned out fun. We had wanted to work on a story together for quite a bit of time, but we never really even thought about going through with it. And now, through all the troubles we've gone through (mainly annoying the crap outta each other), I can say that I am happy with our production so far. But, everybody makes sense, and I , at least, am open for criticism. . .Have at it, readers!

Chapter 2

Firsts (a lot of them. . .)

Orion woke to the heat of somebody breathing on his neck. He opened his eyes slowly, and turned to the source. When he saw the face, he jumped back in surprise. "Agh!" He yelped as quietly as he could.

"Oh. My. GOSH!" The face said. It was pudgy, and black eyes stared at Orion. "You look like Harry - 'sept he had glasses, I suppose. . . But you are a _Potter_! I AM IN A ROOM WITH A POTTER!"

"Yes," Orion managed to grumble. "And I _was_ sleeping. . ."

"Your cat is so cute," the other boy said. Orion could hear now that he had an accent that was hard to hear. It was Oriental, but he couldn't quite point out from exactly where. "I bet he has an _epic_ name! What is it, by the way? OH MY GOODNESS! What's my name? I am Po! I absolutely _adore_ Potters! I have around 60 Harry cards - maybe you could be on a card one day, and I could collect you! Wow, I could make a whole collection of Potter cards! I only have one Ginny, I need to find more of those. . .This is so cool, and I am on the bunk bed on top of_ Orion Potter_! I sleep on top of Harry's grandboy!_ I am talking to a Potter-"_

"Why don't you bother Oaf and Swindle?"

"Who?" Orion rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself to talk with this creep.

"My cousins. . . What'd they get? Gryffindor, I bet. . ." Po's eyes lit up with delight.

"You mean there's more of you? More Potters? OH, this is _amazing_!" Po danced around the room with glee, laughing away. He seemed to catch the attention of Longbottom/Styxe, who was not too happy about being awoken by a boy who seemed to be obsessed with the kin of a famous wizard.

As Po came close to his bed, he flung his clenched fist at the boy, who fell to the ground holding his nose. "Wake me up again, Squinty, and I will let Nagini on you, got it?" He hissed, pushing the fangs of his snake close to Po's face.

Po nodded quickly, without saying a word. Sigma backed up and put his snake back on his lamp. He shot a glower at Po, who was caressing his nose on the ground. He rummaged through his stuff, and eventually pulled a cloak that he quickly put on over his pajamas. He looked at Orion and said, "Nice job, Potter. you got the chink to wake us up on the first day."

He left without another word, and as soon as he was gone, Po groaned in pain. "Who was that guy?" he grunted.

"Sigma Styxe," Orion said. "I would think everybody would remember him - he's Slytheriffindor, if you remember. Don't call him Sigma or Styxe - he doesn't like that for some reason. . . he prefers Longbottom."

"_Longbottom_?" Po exclaimed, suddenly not caring about the bruise he was getting on his nose. "I am in a room with a Potter and a Longbottom! I have the greatest luck! I will thank every house elf in the world for this! THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!"

Po was hit in the face by a pillow. Oscar had obviously been awoken by this pest as well, and wasn't taking kindly to it. Po fell back on the ground again, and groaned. "SHHHH!" Oscar snapped. "I was _asleep_!"

Orion laughed. There was no point in keeping quiet anymore. Everybody else in the room already hated Po, and it was already the first day. Harry described how the only person who had managed to do that was Ron, and everybody ended up loving him anyway. He crawled out of his bed, and approached the squirming boy. He held out a hand to him.

Po's eyes widened. "I am going to touch the hand of a Potter?"

Orion rolled his eyes. "Did you think I was offering you my foot?"

"That. Would. Be. AWESOME!"

"Are you going to accept that I am trying to help you _up_?" Orion said, starting to be annoyed again. He was just trying to help, and all Po could think about was touching him? What a weirdo!

"Yes, of course," Po said. He grabbed Orion's hand and held it for a moment before pushing himself off the ground. "Anything to make you happy!"

Orion didn't respond. He turned to grab his cloaks for the day, and Po was left staring. He was still freaked out by the fact that he had touched Orion's hand. Orion was about ready to start changing, when he realized how much of a creep his roommate was. "Can you turn away, please?" Orion asked. Po's cheeks flushed red, but he left the room, and sat on a couch in the commons, closing the door slowly behind him. As soon as the door was sealed, Orion changed quickly. He could handle changing in front of most people, but Po was different. Po was somebody who seemed to be in love with him. Orion shuddered before opening the door back up.

Po rushed in. "Wow," he said. "That was quick. I bet you were all ninja mode, and-" Another pillow attacked Po, covering his mouth, and muffling the words that he attempted to say.

"I said to shhh!" Oscar groaned.

"Sorry," Po said meekly. Oscar looked at Orion with his sagging shrugged.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Orion said.

"I know!" Po exclaimed, "I know what I can do to help Potter!" Oscar rolled his eyes, but Orion was still willing to deal with him. . . At the moment.

"What is it, Po?"

"LET'S GO EAT BREAKFAST!" Oscar and Orion exchanged precautionary looks. Po leered at them. Orion sighed and left out the door, Po following close behind. Oscar reluctantly tagged along, hoping that Po would leave them alone soon.

Orion nearly tripped over Artemis, who insisted on sheltering between his legs. He shunted the cat aside and continued out of the commons. Po was completely submerged with joy, skipping down the halls and talking incoherently to himself. Orion paled at the thought that he was his roommate. Oscar took notice.

"He's kind of creepy, eh?"

"Agreed. But we still have to deal with him," Orion sighed. He didn't know where he was going, but he trusted this fan-creep enough to take him to the Dining Hall. Once they arrived, Po was bouncing with energy.

"I'll get you your food! What do you want?" Po said excitedly.

"Umm. . ." There didn't seem to be much point in that, as Orion could simply reach over and grab something himself; all the food was sitting on the table already. "I think that'll be unnecessary, Po." He took his seat, which made Po scramble for the nearest seat next to him. The result stole Oscar's seat, who delivered an annoyed glance at the boy. As soon as everyone asserted themselves, Orion reached for a biscuit. Po immediately reached for one himself as soon as the food item hit Orion's plate.

Oscar and Orion looked at the boy. He seemed ready to nab any item Orion decided to take next. Orion became uncomfortable, but took some crepes from the platter in front of him. Po mimicked his action. Orion went far to the right, as far away from Po as possible, and dragged an apple to his plate. Po literally jumped from his seat and went around to acquire the fruit. Orion blatantly face-palmed himself. Oscar did not know whether to laugh or groan. Po did not seem to notice any of the latter.

Cecelia took the open seat beside Orion, making his heart do a mad flutter. He wasn't sure why Oscar hadn't taken it, but he supposed that was trivial. Right now, he could only enjoy the feel of her presence. . .

Then the dark cloud of Longbottom came around. Po seemed to shrink in his presence, and even his joy for famous blood closed up. Orion's lust shrivelled as soon as Sigma took a seat across from him. Fortunately, the boy's venom was directed somewhere other than Orion.

"They call these crepes?" Sigma sneered, watching the thing flail on his fork. Po looked as if he were going to deal him in on some nerdy information, but he was silenced with a terrifying look of Sigma's. "I thought I was promised good food."

"Where do you think you would find better?" Cecelia brought up, trying to contain her spite. Sigma let the food flop onto his plate.

"Good point," he grumbled. The rest of breakfast continued in silence - for better or worse, Orion did not know. A sharp round of clacking came from around the room as letters were dropped from above. Orion looked up to see a teeming mass of owls come swarming from the windows, all bearing letters and packages of some sort. He himself was spiked on the head with a letter, and it fell to his hands. The front of the envelope was labelled with Orion's name, written with familiar handwriting. A smile met his face as he warmly made a move to open it.

Then he felt breathing down his neck.

"Po, can I read a letter in peace?" Orion said.

"Hm? Oh, yes, sir!" Po said. He dove back into his seat. Longbottom stared at Orion as if he had no idea how he puts up with him. Orion shrugged and opened the letter. The script of his grandfather was quick and spidery, reading:

_Dear Orion,_

_I have just received the successful enrollment letter from Hogwarts, and am proud to say my grandson is part of the best school for wizarding. I spoke with Hermione and Ron the other day, and they told me that one of their grandchildren was of your age, and would be attending alongside you. I hope you two come to be good friends._

_The first day of school is something you should take easy - This is a time to get to know your teachers, prepare for your classes, and explore the many secrets of the school. You should be able to do that much, at least, with the aid of the Marauder's Map that I gave you. It served your parents just as well as I, and I foresee you having the same use for it as well._

_Before I draw this letter to a close, I have but one piece of advice: Please, mind Peeves._

_Sincerely, Harry Potter_

Orion double checked the last line of the letter. Peeves? What is that? He glanced at Cecelia, who was intent on her own letter, perhaps from her grandparents as well. She was playfully pointing out things to her sister as she read through it.

_I hope you two come to be good friends._

Orion hoped so, too. . .

He folded the letter back up and placed it under a corner of his plate. He picked up his fork, and began trying to break apart his rubbery crepes. Next to him, Po was shaking anxiously. As soon as Orion put his letter down, Po began to reach for it. "Po," Orion said. "Some things are private, okay?" Po nodded his head but did not bring his hand back "So, you _can't_ read _my_ letter."

Po pulled his hand away and began looking at his food sadly. As soon as Orion took a bite out of his crepe, Po scrambled for his fork to do the same. Orion rolled his eyes, and tried to finish eating without a distraction. He turned his body away from Po, and found that Cecelia had done the same thing. His knee touched hers for a moment, and he pulled away quickly.

Cecelia smiled at him. "Good morning," she said. "How was your first night?"

"It was okay," Orion answered as casually as he could make himself sound. "Po woke me up this morning, and hasn't left my side since. He woke us _all_ up."

"Oh, that's too bad," Cecelia said. "At least he is still hanging around you. Nashira woke the others in my dorm up, and they haven't talked to me but to tell me to 'keep my things under control'. I don't even know why that was such a bad thing! Nashira was awake, so I needed to be awake, but they treated me like I was lower than a house elf. . ."

At the sight of Cecelia's sad eyes, Orion's stomach churned. This wasn't supposed to be happening to her. "Who are they?" he asked, suddenly in a protective mood.

"Their names are Tara, Kayla, and Rachel," Cecelia said with a frown. "They are upperclassmen, though, so _please_ don't do anything. . . They ran out of rooms of just first-years. . . I don't want to get further on their bad side. . ." Orion was slightly disappointed to be forbidden so, even if he had no idea what he would have done in the first place. _It probably would have been foolish._

"I'm sure it was nothing - you know how older people get when their sleep is interfered with. Perhaps it will pass?" Cecelia looked at her little sister with something like sorrow.

"Perhaps," was all she said. Orion regretfully tore his eyes away from her once again, and resumed with his morning meal. Oscar later brought up a good question:

"So, what are we supposed to do after this?"

Po immediately looked to Orion as if he had held all the answers to the world, but he was just as clueless. Longbottom's scowl shifted from Orion to Cecelia to Oscar, but he gave no input himself. Finally, Cecelia said, "Why don't we go out and find a teacher?" The idea sounded good, so Orion nodded his head.

"Let's go to Potions, first," he said. "I think I remember Pippin Palmer saying something about the teacher's name being 'Maxime Macrabre' , or something along those lines."

"I thought it was Maxis Macaroon," Oscar piped in.

"It's Maxis Macabre," a taller upperclassmen said from behind. Orion turned to see Gary speaking. "He is the best Potions teacher I have ever had the chance to learn from. Come - I can show you what room he teaches in. I think he was planning on acting as though today was a normal day of class; I think he decided to teach you how to make Polyjuice Potions."

Orion's face lit up at the sound of "Polyjuice". Harry had told him about multiple occasions where the potion was useful. He was curious to see if he would ever use it himself. To his left, Po was smiling because he was, and to his right, Cecelia was smiling as if she had just been asked to prom by Harry Styles. She was excited. He heard an agitated Longbottom grunt impatiently behind him, and Oscar was still focused on his food. "Let's go," Orion said.

Gary clapped his hands together. "Great," the prefect said. "Follow me!" He led them through corridor after corridor, before the students found themselves at a staircase. Right as the last of them took a step, the flight of stairs began to move. Most of them were unphased, as they knew about the fabled stairs, but Po opened his mouth wide, and grabbed at the railing. "Oh yeah," Gary said. "The stairs move. I thought you already would have known."

Po shook his head, "I didn't, but I do now!"

Gary chuckled, as the stairs came to a halt. "C'mon, keep up!" he said. Gary began twisting between the students that were crowded in the small hallways. Orion lost track of him once or twice, but his ginger hair was easy to spot in a crowd. At the end of the hall, there was a wide, tall door, big enough for a giant to walk through. In Harry's stories, the Potions class was in the Dungeon, where the Slytherin lurked. Here, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. Orion imagined the pains that would come if he had to traverse the entire school to get up here.

Gary glanced back at them with a smirk, and opened the doors wide. Inside, a class was already in progress - fortunately, all that must have passed were names. The Potions teacher looked up from his work, nodded curtly, and focused back on the task at hand. A mild chatter went around as he continued preparing for whatever experiment he was doing. Apparently, whatever he was going to do was quite exciting.

Oscar was the first to take a seat. Each of the tables seemed to have a maximum occupancy of two people. Gary took the spot next to him and watched as Professor Macabre carefully divided the ingredients. His movements were with such care that you'd think that he had OCD - but then you come to realize that the wrong dose of something can very well blow your face off the planet. Orion kept an eye on Cecelia, and instantly moved to her side when she took a seat. This made Po very anxious, and he saw nowhere to sit as his very dreams were composed of him beside the amazing Potter. He contented himself with the seat behind him, which was immediately replaced by alarm as Longbottom unenthusiastically took the vacant seat next to him.

As soon as the preparations were set, Professor Macabre bolted up and straightened his maroon cloak. "So, at the note of Polyjuice, I have collected all the required ingredients for precisely that, which is what you see in front of you. Now, just a faint warning, this stuff tastes like sh-" he paused and corrected his language, "This stuff is the worst tasting stuff possible, and the effects aren't shabby, either - and that is not meant in a good way." Someone raised their hand, and Professor Macabre slammed his hands on the table, stirring the objects atop of it, and gazing horrifically at the child. "Imagine the most disgusting thing you've ever tried, then multiply it by twenty-million and add in a few cups of _death_."

Everybody stared at the man. He righted himself and consciously smoothed his cloak again. "Now, the potion is very simple to make." He hesitated, then tried again, "Now, the potion is simply an excruciating pain to make, though you just can't deny the wonderful smell it makes. A bit like. . . Rotten corpse. Yes, that's it. Well, anyway, if you can follow these guidelines_ very_ carefully, you can successfully create the Polyjuice potion. . ." He proceeded with a rapid-tongued list of the ingredients, throwing them in with expert precision without a single peek at the cauldron on the table. He stopped at "Frog Vitreous" and said a number of things to look out for - specifically color and smell ("If you smell something like rotten corpse, then you either have an excellent start to Polyjuice or there is a dead body in your immediate vicinity.") - but nobody could keep up with him to even understand what had happened.

Gary leaned in by the first years. "He'll go slower in actual classes, I promise. He's just been around some suggestive potions lately - all those smells can get to you after how long he's been working at it." Orion thought he was similar to the Sorting Hat, with his tangents and cracked mind. Then he saw something black in the corner of the room. He scrutinized the area, and saw the shape of something remarkably like the hat itself!

"After you do all that, you have to let it marinate - I mean you have to stir it for two to four hours. The color will change yet again, and you will have the completed Polyjuice potion before you. Of course, nobody wants to wait around here for four hours, so I already have a finished Polyjuice potion right here. Well, actually, it's not quite finished. For it to be done, I need a single human hair," Professor Macabre said, placing a glass beaker on the table. He dug around behind his desk and drew a chainsaw with a flourish. "Any volunteers?" he said enthusiastically, firing up his lumber-destroying machine.

Now everybody in the room was convinced he was crazy, staring at him with eyes as large as dinner plates. The machine gave another roar, and the professor smiled sweetly at the students. Gary stood and walked up to him, Cecelia releasing a distressful gasp as the others decided he was crazy as well. Gary confidently came to Professor Macabre's side, and the professor yanked the chain. The mechanical beast gave a terrific scream, and the professor brought down the thing on Gary.

The chainsaw missed, and it stopped inches from the teacher's desk. For a moment, it looked like nothing happened, but then a small bit of ginger hair floated down into the beaker's mouth, sizzling as it touched the substance inside. Dumbfounded silence found the room, and then it broke out into applause. Professor Macabre and Gary bowed, and the prefect returned to his seat. Cecelia bolted from her seat and seized Gary, checking everywhere for any sign of harm done to him. Gary chuckled cynically and allowed his younger sister to give her examinations to her satisfaction.

Professor Macabre stuffed the chainsaw somewhere behind the table and held up the Polyjuice potion in triumph. "Behold! The finished product - a Polyjuice Potion! And since I love you guys so much, I will do the honors of drinking this disturbingly gross concoction." He lifted the potion, appeared to brace himself, and turned the bottom up.

Some of the potion dribbled across his face and he chugged the thing, making gurgles and faces as he downed the Polyjuice. When he finished, he threw the beaker aside, smashing it against the ground, and viciously wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He spat on the ground, attempting to dispose of the taste of the substance, and slowly began to change.

Oscar was the first to point it out: "Look! His hair!" The students in the classroom inclined toward the man, and, indeed, his hair was changing a few shades into red. His height grew equal to Gary's, and his clothes hung looser on his body. After stumbling a little bit, Professor Macabre found his way upright and looked identical to Gary in every way - minus the clothes.

"Done correctly, you will be able to look and sound identical to the person you snatched a hair from. Of course, you could always turn into an animal, if they play with their dog too much." Professor Macabre's voice was just like Gary's, who raised his hands in surrender when everyone looked directly at him to see if it was a hoax. A hoax it was not - Professor Macabre had taken the exact size, shape, and sound of Gary Weasley.

"The time you stay as the person depends on how much Polyjuice you consumed and. . . And. . . Something! Now, with that load of lard I drank, I will probably stay like this for three hours," the professor continued, "And. . . And. . . That sucks. But not as much as a vampire does! I eagerly look forward to seeing you in my class! And while I'm Gary. . .I would _so_ love to see Jeremy Renner dress drag and sexy-like!"

Gary rolled his eyes. People roused, gathering their stray items and leaving. Orion and Cecelia stayed around to see where Gary would take them next. After all of the students were gone, he said, "Lets go to Defense Against the Dark Arts, next. Levvi Wakes had been the teacher under that subject for a few years now, and her skills are outstanding. I think she had a mini lesson prepared for today, if you brought your wands." Gary winked.

"You know I have mine, Gare," Cecelia said. She pulled it out of the chest of her cloak, making Orion turn red. As soon as it was out, Nashira's little hands reached up to try to pluck the stick out of her sister's hand. "No, Nashi, wands are for big girls." Nashira began pouting, and Gary picked her up.

"Oh, Nashi," he said. "It's okay! You will be a big girl soon, and you can have a wand!"

Orion smiled, and Cecelia rolled her eyes. "Are we going, or not?" she asked, defiance written in her voice.

"Ugh, you are so impatient- yes," he said. "It's just across the hall." He walked out of the room, the other two following them

Apparently "just across the hall" meant three stories up spiral staircases. When they reached the top, all three of them were completely out of breath. They stopped to take a break, and Po caught up with them.

"Wow," Po said. "I can't believe I left you back there in that classroom with that whacked out teacher. He looks like a student! And he looks like Gary - oh, hey Gary! I guess I didn't leave Mr. Potter in the wrong hands after all, sir prefect! WOW, I am hanging out with a Potter and a couple, no three, Weasleys and we are on our way to another class together. This is pretty awesome!"

"Yes, pretty awesome," Orion said rolling his eyes. "Can we go, now?"

Gary nodded his head, picking Nashira back up in his arms. "This way," he said. The next door they entered was half the size of the other one, and some of the taller students had to duck to make it in. "Welcome to Professor Wakes' classroom."

The walls of the room were dominated with figures and sketches of mythical creatures, anatomical designs of their skeletal structure and organ systems intricately laying out the classroom. The area itself was roughly a dome shape, perhaps an astronomy class before the Defense Against the Dark Arts class manifested itself in there. A few students were inside, waiting for Professor Wakes to start up her instruction. The professor herself was examining a creature on her desk, which was submerged in water. Like Professor Macabre, her attire seemed to focus primarily on a single color - this one was purple.

"Professor Wakes, would it be about time to begin your presentation?" Gary said. The professor gazed at the creature a little longer, then said, "This is a mediterranean sea creature, known as the_ Oni Kimetsuke Umi_, or the Sea Demon, as it is commonly known. I believe Kimetsuke part is completely made up, but I admit it has a nice ring to it." The woman stood up and fixed her pointed hat.

"They are not completely hazardous, but a blow to their weak abdomen should render them incapable of any more actions," she continued. Her eye gleamed from under her hat. "Thus executing them. Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts, children." Orion and the others filed in, taking their seats where any were open. The professor walked to one end of the room, placing her hand on one of the many papers on the walls. "This is a very intermediate class, but it is strictly necessary to the lifestyle of the wizarding world. Since there are many things that are more than willing to kill you, it is important that you understand the means to defend yourself."

Her long fingers pinched an area in the wall, and plucked out a white orb. "For instance, the boggart." She released the thing and it floated around the room, determining which one of the students in the room to victimize. "This is a simple type of Shapeshifter that preys upon the fears of its target. It can only attack you if your fear is material, so those who are afraid of the dark, for example, can not be subject to a boggart strike."

The orb zipped behind Professor Wakes' desk. She stared after it, fiddling with her wand. "It isn't _too_ dangerous - compared, at least, to the _Oughn_, which is the Japanese Shapeshifter, Nasty things, they are; Always from Asia." Po looked rather affronted. "But the boggart can and will kill you without a second thought. The thing that makes it the most harmless being of the dark magical world is its repulse to laughter." A duplicate of Longbottom rose from behind the desk. Po toppled over his chair in fright, yelping in sudden panic. The true Sigma rolled his eyes. Professor Wakes found this amusing. "Repelling your deepest fear is quite difficult, especially with laughter. So the way to make your boggart 'funny' is with a simple spell: _Ridikulous_. Say it with me, now. _Ridikulous_."

Everyone in the classroom repeated after her, all except Po, who was quailing with horror, and Longbottom, who already understood the concept. Professor Wakes said the spell again and flicked her wand at the doppelganger, and the false Longbottom instantly grew a pair of cat ears and a pink suit doubled with hearts. The room boomed with laughter, the only person not enjoying the show being Sigma himself. The boggart was startled by the noise, and looked incredulously at the crowd.

"The spell activates when you imagine your fear in the most humorous way possible, thus making it easier to laugh at. This confuses the beast, and makes it easier to dispatch of while it is in its stupor," Professor Wakes finished. "Now, who's next?"

Gary, the prefect who seemed unafraid of anything, stepped towards the boggart. When the creature saw him, it immediately turned into a large spider, and Gary took a step back in horror. "_Ridikulous!_" he stuttered. The spider turned into a clown, its fangs becoming covered by large red nose, its eyes covered by a rainbow wig. Each of the eight feet had long shoes that made it impossible to walk. The class burst out into laughter, including Gary who was no longer afraid of the creature in front of him.

Professor Wakes clapped her hands together, "Wonderful job, Gary!" she exclaimed. "Any other volunteers?"

Everybody was excited, but nobody else volunteered. "Why doesn't the Potter try it?" someone called, breaking through the noise. All eyes directed themselves to Orion. He paled, not knowing that he was even acknowledged as a human let alone a Potter. He steadily got up, and walked up to the boggart. What was he afraid of? _Rejection,_ his mind snipped. It wasn't material, right? So he wouldn't -

"That's one sexy ass of yours, Potter!" a voice called out. Orion feared to look back, frantically supposing that the fumes of the potions last class had distorted someone's mind. The voice was male, and the manner of speech it was used in was unmistakable.

The entire room boomed with laughter. The boggart wavered, confused that everyone was laughing and it hadn't even turned into anything yet.

Levvi Wakes scowled at the class. "If you have a comment," she said, "then _you_ take on the boggart!"

"Nah," the voice replied. "I'd rather watch Potter from behind."

Orion looked back, his face red and written with horror. In the back of room was a boy, about his age, who was grinning from ear to ear. He had dark blue eyes, and black hair on his slight figure. The hair was spiked up in all places, and he looked almost. . . scary. Orion wasn't quite sure, but this guy seemed to look like somebody he knew, when it hit him. He looked like the headmaster; this must be the Collin kid that some of the second years were worried about.

"Glad you decided to take a glance back at me, love," the boy said. "I don't think we've properly acquainted ourselves; I happen to be Spartzis Abraxus Collins." His brain twinged; so he was the headmaster's son. Does that give him authority to do this, or is this an excellent way to get this freak in trouble?

Po didn't seem so creepy, all of the sudden.

"Can we just enjoy the show?" Longbottom muttered.

"That's a good point - I'm just waiting to see Potter in action." Orion turned back around to the boggart, uncomfortable with his back to the audience. He suppressed a shiver as he imagined Spartzis staring at his -

"It doesn't seem to be able to read you," Professor Wakes said, mildly intrigued. "I suppose you don't have any tangible fears. Though with _that_ -" Professor Wakes indicated Spartzis with distaste "- I suppose it makes sense." Orion went back to his seat, thankful to be out of the spotlight. "Anybody else_ without_ a sexy ass to look upon?"

Some giggles came from the crowd.

"Though my face must be stunning," Spartzis said, "I'm sure some wouldn't mind to look at the other end of me." He stood up and walked, no _strutted_, up to the boggart. The creature seemed excited to have another victim, one that actually had a fear. Once Spartzis was no more than an arm's length away, it morphed into an animal, becoming an otter. He jumped in fear, his posture tightening, and his fists clenching. Some mild laughter came from the back of the class. "_Ridikulous!_" he yelped. The otter immediately grew butterfly wings, was encased in hotdog buns, and began to fly around the classroom ejecting bubbles from its behind. When the class laughed even harder, Spartzis knew that they were not laughing at the now silly looking otter, but that they were laughing at his fear of such a kind looking creature. "Hey, when you have otter soup three weeks straight, you start to fear the stench," he said, locking his eyes on Orion, and winked before continuing. "Care for some soup, Potter?"

Orion went red again, and couldn't bear being in the room anymore. This guy was making a complete fool out of him, and he was uncomfortable. No boy had ever acted like this towards him; no girl had done it, either, but the notion of a fellow male flirting with him was repulsive. He got out of his seat and left the area. Spartzis blew a kiss as he went out the door.

Orion could feel his insides rolling violently within his stomach, barely able to retain its contents. That was a show he hoped to never see again. Cecelia came out the door shortly after, Nashira tagging along hand-in-hand. "Are you okay?" she asked. The concern of a_ girl_ was a relief to him, and he could feel his stomach settle slightly. His face, however, did not lose its red touch.

"I think so," Orion said, "I'm just not fond of boys hitting on me." Gary came out as well.

"That's all right - we all have our moments," he said, "Everybody's concerned about the headmaster's son - you just happened to be the first victim." Po peeked out, Orion caught his eye.

"Po, get Oscar and Longbottom. I want to ditch this place," Orion said. Po nodded obediently and disappeared back in the classroom. Cecelia looked at him oddly.

"Did you just ask him to fetch Longbottom?" she asked, "I thought you had something against him." Orion didn't quite understand it himself, but he didn't leave a lot of time to speculate.

"Protection," Orion answered. Cecelia took it.

The others soon gathered: Longbottom, looking halfway between bored and indifferent as always, Oscar, curiously looking around, and Po, excitedly bouncing on the balls of his feet at the presence of Potter. Orion restrained the urge to roll his eyes. "Where to next, Gary?" Cecelia asked.

"I don't know. . ." the prefect said. His stomach growled, and he smiled sheepishly. "I haven't had breakfast yet, but I guess it would be called 'brunch' now, wouldn't it?" He looked awkwardly at the young students before him. "Well, I'm going to go eat something. You guys should figure something out - there's plenty to explore around here." At that, Gary hurried down the stairs. The remaining children looked at one another.

"Well. . ." Orion said, "Why don't we go visit Hagrid, or something? I'm sure he must want some company." Agreement went around the small group of friends, and then they all looked down the flight of stairs.

Everybody groaned.

They had a long trip to go through.

Cecelia, always good at making things better, smiled. "At least we aren't walking _up_ all these stairs to see Mr. Pippin Palmer Hagrid," she said grinning, "It's just a very long trip down, right?"

"Oh yes, of course, Madame Weasley," Po said. "I'd much rather walk down than walk up!" His enthusiasm made an honest and hard attempt to spread to the others, but it was squashed out by those who stared at the suck-up with contempt. Po hid his face from the others, and they descended down the steps.

The pictures were whispering behind their backs, stopping the moment they came within ear's reach. As one of the steps swung around to meet another set, Longbottom grabbed Orion. "I don't trust them," he said cryptically.

"What?" Orion said.

"The pictures. Look at how they stare at us and how they stop talking when we come by. Something is happening." Longbottom pushed him away and continued down the stairs. Orion thought a little on his words - what could they be hiding? But then Orion speculated that Sigma must have come from a bad neighborhood. Superstition was natural.

They finally reached the bottom floor, Oscar gratefully shaking out his legs. "At least that is over with," he said. Everybody shared his feelings. They journeyed down the halls, looking at the ancient suits of armor and paintings as they passed by. A disruption occurred farther down the hall, people breaking out of the way of some whooping creature. Orion scrutinized the occurrence, and was soon able to determine the source of the havoc.

Headmaster Collins, helmet clad and dressed in protective wear, was screaming down the hallway, shooting through the crowds on a skateboard. Oscar yanked Orion out of the way, the Headmaster giving a thrilled shout as he jumped onto the side of the wall. The professor winked at them, before shouting "woo-hoo"s and "taa-taa"s through the hall.

The group gazed after him. As soon as he was out of sight, the students looked back at each other.

"Did I just see that?" Oscar queried.

"Yeah," Po said in equal bewilderment.

"He likes to skateboard on his spare time," someone said, "This is the last chance he'll get before school business starts."

The group turned to see a picture speaking to them. "What, never seen a painting before? The newer generations are getting pulled farther and farther away from the way things used to be. Damned technology. Well, go on, then! Move along!"

Shaking their heads in disbelief, they continued onward to Hagrid's house. Near the entrance to the school, however, a figure showed up out of the darkness. At first, Orion thought it was just one big fat kid walking down the hall, until whoever it was came out of the darkness. He grunted, recognizing the face of his least favorite cousin: Swindle, a girl on each arm. Both of them were gazing up at Swindle's face as if he was royalty - no, _godly_. They were smiling wildly; Orion was disgusted.

"What do you want _now_, Swindle?" he asked.

"What, did you miss me, Starboy?" his cousin sneered. "Oh, and I must have forgotten to tell you; because we are in this new school, you can and _will_ stop calling me Swindle. I have decided that Benny sounds so much nicer, and Jessica and Siri here like it very much. They say it suits me."

The smaller one bit her lip, before saying, "There is no better name for a kisser like you." She stood on her toes, and pushed her face into his. They kissed for a good ten seconds, before girl number two got jealous.

"My turn, Jessie!" she whined. She pushed away the other girl and began kissing Swindle fiercer than her friend. Swindle didn't have a complaint.

Swindle pulled away after a few moments, Oaf coming up behind. He looked dismayed. "Tessa told me to go find some first year to bug," he said. "I didn't think I was being_ that_ annoying."

"Oh, my stupid little brother, you just don't know a thing, do you?," Swindle said, his eyes glittering. "And as for finding some first-years, you might as well. Nobody is as lucky as me to get two fourth years on the first day of school. Hey, look! Cous' has got a girl right there who is as new to the school as us! Go try picking her up."

Oaf's eyes brightened. He turned toward Cecelia, and began walking her way, when Orion stepped in front of him. "No," he said firmly. "Stay away from her."

"Oh, got a crush, Starboy?" Swindle taunted. "Somebody feeling a little protective over his girl?"

Orion turned a deep shade of red. First Po following him, then Spartzis staring at his ass, and now Swindle embarrassing him in front of Ceci? "You were right when you said not everybody is as lucky as you on their first day," Orion spat. "Oaf isn't lucky enough to have any good looks on him to get the ladies grabbing at him. You just have that silver tongue of yours, and you can talk your way into getting_ anything_ you want. I bet those girls on your arms hadn't even thought of the chance of you wanting to do more than kissing. Maybe they don't know that, but I do. I have way too much going on already to take this from you. Oaf, learn how to live on your own, and_ Sir Benny Swindle_, I hope you learn that girls aren't toys."

Jessica and Siri looked up at Swindle in disgust. "You wanted to take advantage of me?" Siri asked, fury in her voice.

"Yes. . . no, er. . . that's not all, I wanted to. . . I wanted to. . . hug you?" Swindle stuttered.

Both the girls pushed him away, retching in disgust. In no more than a second, Swindle was left without a girl, and Oaf was staring after them with a confused expression, unable to comprehend what had just happened with his puny mind. Swindle looked back at Orion, glowering with hatred.

"Not so lucky are you now, eh 'Benny'?" Longbottom teased. Swindle shook his head, and grabbed Oaf's arm. The two were out of sight quickly.

"Wow," a girl said from behind the group. "That was amazing."

Orion, Oscar, Longbottom, Cecelia, and Nashira all turned to look at the source of the voice. It was a girl, with long, brown hair that hung in curls along its length. Her eyes were a dark brown, almost black, and she didn't look as kind as her voice had sounded.

Cecelia was the first to say something. "Hey, Rachel," she said, her eyes down, and her voice quiet. "These are my friends: Orion, Oscar, Longbottom, Po, and, well, you know Nashira." She listed them slowly, almost reluctant to be even uttering these names to Rachel.

"Yeah I know Nashira," Rachel said, her voice going cold. "The little bugger who woke us up this morning. As for your friends, I'm happy to meet them."

Orion's eyes widened. So _this_ was the Rachel Cecelia had mentioned earlier, the one who had complained about Nashira waking them up. Her voice had a strange way of going from saccharine to bitter, yet it seemed perfectly natural.

"Anyhow, I overheard Orion there speaking to Swindle, as you seemed to call him," the new girl continued, her voice slightly tapered with unctuousness, "And I have to say that Cecelia should have been able to stick up for herself. Your speech was actually, intriguing, though." Her voice continued its rollercoaster of hot and cold, and Orion found himself seeing why Cecelia hadn't wanted him to go stand up to her._ I wouldn't stand a chance._ "Well played, Potter." Rachel turned her head, and stalked away, her hair bouncing as she walked.

"What was that all about?" Oscar asked, looking at both Cecelia and Orion for answers.

"No idea," both of them said.

"She hates me because Nashi woke her and my other roommates up this morning," Cecelia explained. "She is a second year, and I don't understand her like I usually do with other people. Sometimes she seems nice, but then she suddenly goes cold, and gets all mean."

"Yeah," Orion agreed. "I have no idea if she was teasing me, or giving me a compliment."

Cecelia shrugged her shoulders. "For all I know, it could have been both." The conversation was stopped there, and the group continued on their walk to see Pippin Palmer.


	3. Darkness Erupts

A/N MOOHAHA! This turned out fun. We had wanted to work on a story together for quite a bit of time, but we never really even thought about going through with it. And now, through all the troubles we've gone through (mainly annoying the crap outta each other), I can say that I am happy with our production so far. But, everybody makes sense, and I , at least, am open for criticism. . .Have at it, readers!

Chapter 3

Darkness Erupts

The fresh air of the yards exploded in Orion's face.

The school grounds were home to many upperclassmen, as well as a generous number of birds. The bright sun made its climb to the top of the sky, its blazing glory shining upon the soiled flooring of last night's downpour. To the left, an old shack sat - at least, that is what it resembled. Harry had told of this being a small hut, once - but now it had something like a barn and a bigger roof. The place was decked with plants of all kinds and numerous bird houses.

"Is that Hagrid's house?" Oscar asked.

"I think," Orion said.

"What do we want with him, anyway?" Longbottom said bitterly.

"It never hurts to pay him a visit," Cecelia said, "Our grandparents were best friends with the first Hagrid." Longbottom grunted in response.

"You go ahead," Oscar said, "I think I will hang around the lake. . . Oh, and Po?" The student perked up at the sound of his name. "Do you know where we can get any soft pretzels?"

"Soft. . . Pretzels?" Po repeated.

"Yes, I think we could all use a bite. Right?" Po looked to Orion, who slowly caught up with Oscar's thinking.

"Hmm? Yes! I'd like a soft pretzel," Orion said. Po stood taller, as if charged with an important mission.

"Anything for you, Potter!" Po said. He ran back into the school, bursting with excitement. Longbottom struck his forehead.

"How come I hadn't thought of that before?!" he groaned.

"It is no problem. Have fun!" Oscar said.

"You too, Oscar!" Cecelia bid. Left as a trio, they carried on to Hagrid's house, arriving at his front door step. Orion looked back at the others, who expectantly looked back at him, and he knocked the wooden door. Silence overtook from there. Orion was about to leave when the door slammed open and a huge man erupted from inside.

"Aye, who be up banging 'gainst mah door?" he roared, somewhat languid yet somewhat awake. He scrutinized the forms in front of him. "Oh, it's you guys."

"Hello, Mr. Hagrid," Cecelia greeted, "We, um, we just wanted to know how you've been doing lately." Hagrid looked surprised.

"Me?" he said, "I. . . I'm a'right, I guess. A little sleepy, at best, but still up an' at'em. Er, why? What 'bout you?"

"We're doing great," Longbottom said cynically.

"Well, our grandparents thought very highly of your predecessor, so we just thought we'd drop by. . ." Cecelia broke off there. She shot Sigma a look, but he was focused on checking his nails in a fist.

Hagrid's brows furrowed, then his eyes seemed to spark. "Ah, you mus' be them fellahs I took 'cross the lake. I remember, a'right. So, what ye be up to on yer firs' day o' school?"

"We've met two crazy teachers, so far," Orion brought up.

"Aye, I hear what ye mean. Professor Macabre's a bit of a whack."

"Do _you_ teach anything, Mr. Hagrid?" Cecelia asked.

"Oh, please, don't call me Mr. Hagrid - that's sounds too formal fer me. And yeah, I got a class o' me own. It's called the Care o' Magical Creatures. I bet ya gon' like that class! I've been looking forw'rd to i-t'all summer."

"Well," Cecelia said, "The other teachers are doing little previews. . . maybe you could give us a little bit of information on what's going to be going on this year in Care of Magical Creatures?"

"Oh. . . Well, I haven't thought er'bout that mahself. . ." Hagrid was quiet for a moment, then piped up with an idea. "I know! Imma show ye guys the Hippogryph! That's all I got fer now, but I got the feelin' that he'll be enough fer a while. Come 'round back and I'll show ye what I mean." Hagrid jovially jumped from his door and hobbled to the back of his house. Orion and the others followed, coming back into a huge pumpkin patch. "T'was me father's. Gave it to me last summer, he did. But this," Hagrid indicated a large beast, made of ruffled feathers and stuck up hair, "I found this in the wild. It's called a Hippogryph."

Orion found the creature fascinating - it had knowing, clear eyes that stared intensely at its guests. It had the head of a bird, the raptor kind, with the long, muscled body of a lion, sleek with silken fur. Huge, broad wings protruded from its back, spreading longer in the dazzling sunlight to look more impressive in front of the visitors. Cecelia tried to step closer to it, but Longbottom stopped her.

"I have a bad feeling about it," he said under his breath. Orion caught the words, as well. He half trusted him and half didn't, but Sigma didn't seem like the one to let someone walk into imminent danger under his nose.

"She's a beauty, ain't she?" Hagrid romanticised. He waddled up to it and stroked its wings. The beast churred. "Found 'er in the forest. I call 'er Luster." He looked back at them. "Come on, then. She's real gentle." Cecelia and Orion made a sort of half-movement toward the hippogryph, but Sigma held them back, volunteering to go first.

Longbottom already seemed to know the procedure to meeting a creature of Luster's kind. He held out his arms in a peace function, showing he had no weapons nor any intention of using one, and bowed to it. The beast gazed at him gently, but did nothing. There seemed to be something wrong. Longbottom stood up straight, a vindictive gleam in his eye. He then whipped out his wand and zapped the beast with some spell.

A wild cry burst from it, an explosion of fur and feathers ripping from a mess of black smoke. Hagrid stumbled back, thinking that Sigma had killed his beast without reason, but then thinking otherwise when he saw the writhing _thing_ that took its place. Orion and Cecelia jumped back, avoiding the black wisps that emit from the fiend that took Luster's place. _If_ Luster even existed in the first place.

Longbottom held his wand at ready, not afraid of the rampant thing in front of him. Orion saw the very air around it turn icy blue, and the growth around it decay. The darkness behind it became even more dark, and the billowing smoke around it thoroughly soaked him with a fresh dose of fear. A fear that came as if nothing good would ever come to again. A fear that felt like everything he loved was gone. A fear that ripped into the deepest parts of his mind and drew out what his darkest nightmares were made of. . .

Sigma fired something into the black cloud, another screech coming from the thing. Orion caught a glimpse of a skeletal head - not any that a human would bear, but rather one of an animal. No, not even an animal, a _monster_. Hagrid hastily took out his own wand as the fiend rose into the air.

The creature had no color, as if it lived in a black-and-white photograph. There were shadows cast across the skeletal figure, and its cloak seemed to be made of mist and smoke mixed together. It made a noise - a noise worse than the cry of a baby during a thunderstorm; worse than the sound of nails scratching a new chalkboard; worse than the scream of a child dying. It was the sound that could only be described by as fear. And the sound of fear was the cry that haunted the students and Hagrid. The noise had confused all of them, including Hagrid, and their wands were out down. The beast attempted a laugh, it seemed, before it cocked its head to the side. The dry, skeletal lips the creature possessed began to move, to form words. The noise that came out was a whisper, dry and airy,_ "A Potter. . . Two Weasleys. . . And one of Longbottom blood. . . Along with the quarter breed filth of a teacher. . . What a reunion. . . What a day to kill. . . And the Potter is the one I wish to get rid of first."_

The thing launched itself at Orion, who had no time to protect himself. Longbottom shouted a spell that racked the thing backward, making it reel into the trees. The impact made its shrouds disperse, a clearer form of it revealing. The creature very well resembled a stitched together pile of random bones. It had wings - pale, bleached, and bony, that stretched out with its long, torn leather the color of ink. From five legs it stood its distorted body, a thick tail ending in a spade sweeping the ground as it stabilized itself. But, from a long, spinal neck was not the head of an animal as Orion had expected - but one of a human.

"It's. . . It's a. . ." Hagrid stuttered.

"Dementor," Sigma said with venom.

Its black veil fumed from its body again, smearing its figure in an obscure mantle. The Frankenstein monster gave a chilling roar and rushed at Longbottom, who dived to the side and shot another smite. The thing stumbled, nearly crashing into Orion and Cecelia, but was able to stay upright on its many legs. Sigma scoffed. "That can't be it, is it?"

_"You. . . Fear nothing. . . How is that so. . . ?"_

"I don't have reason, _Thing_. And with how weak you are, I don't see any reason coming any time soon." The skull lunged from the smoke, swiping at Longbottom.

_"You know only rage. . ."_

"What the hell ye doin', Styxe? Don't talk tah it!" Hagrid said. He pulled up his sleeves and pointed his wand at the thing. "Let's see if this 'ere thing's really what he sez it is._ Expecto Patronum!"_ A blazing lion jumped from the wand's tip, bearing its teeth at the beast. In response, the dementor monster ran forth and caught it between two limbs, ripping it in half with its mouth. The patronus gave a dying cry, fading away into the air. Hagrid staggered back, shock in his eyes.

The head of the demon quirked back to Longbottom, who grinned slightly at the show._ "I know. . . Who you are. . . Sigma Styxe."_

"And I know you," Sigma said, "Are nothing. _Incendio_!" He cast the spell against the ground near it, setting the deadened grass alive with flames. The monster hissed, stepping back from it, but then sprung over the fire. With a mighty wing beat, it flew around Sigma and crashed before him, swinging three appendages across his legs. Sigma bounded over them, taking the instant to set fire to the creature.

A deathly screech pierced the air, the clouds around the monster turning a furious red. Its wings stroked the air, casting billowing smoke over Sigma. Hagrid dove in, leaving Orion and Cecelia alone in the open. Behind the curtain of black, Sigma cautiously looked around, wand at ready. "_Lumos_," he muttered, and a small beam of light flickered on at the end of his wand. It did nothing to cast visibility through the thick clouds, but it did him some small comfort.

The skeletal head slithered its way through the smog, greeting Sigma with its ever-present smile. It drew closer, its mouth lolling open to consume his soul. . .

"_Diffindo_," Sigma hissed. An invisible whip lashed across the thing's face, breaking its jaw apart. He heard something move fast from behind, and spun hastily around. The beast's tail with its spiked tip was speeding at him, directed precisely at his chest.

"_Impedimenta_!" a voice from behind boomed. The deathly lance slowed, and Sigma caught his breath. It took him awhile to realize that he had to move, and he stepped aside the tail before the spell wore off and it charged away. The tail rounded itself and homed back in on Sigma, who retaliated with "_Flipendo_."

The jinx smacked the spear aside, bouncing it away into the darkness. Some wild instinct made Sigma think that was it, but the entire beast came thundering down in front of him. He leaped back in mild shock, muscles tightening as he prepared for more. He looked over his shoulder for Hagrid, but his presence was not there. The head swooped closer to Sigma. It seemed to take a deep whiff from its nasal cavity. "_No_," it said,_ "You DO fear something."_ Sigma stuck his wand up for another attack, but one of the thing's legs batted it away. He watched as his only means of defense fell to the ground, his lingering urge to do something failed._ "Death."_

A huge chunk of rock sailed into the monster's head, splitting its skull partially. "Oi! Focus yer ass on sum'un yer own size!" The creature craned its crooked head at Hagrid, who wielded another giant rock. He lugged it at the beast, striking home. "Ye too scared, prick? Can't handle a little giant yerself?" The monster thrashed Sigma aside, launching him into the hut. "Yeah, that's right. Come at me bro!"

The black shrouds were shrugged off, revealing the titanic fiend in the open. Hagrid seized another rock and heaved it at the beast. The rock was cast aside with a flick of its tail, which changed its course directly at Cecelia. Orion charged over and tackled her to the ground, making the boulder miss by inches. He carefully twisted himself to make sure only he took the brunt force of the fall, but he only managed to take the most of it. The creature strode forward on its five long, spidery legs, taking its time to initiate with Hagrid. Hagrid hurled yet another rock at the demon, which whacked the object right back at him.

The giant man drew out his wand, getting halfway through a swear as he said, "_Flipendo_!" This shot the rock back at the monster, breaking it apart in its face. However, it did not back down. "Resilient bastard," Hagrid seethed. He had run out of rocks to throw. He looked around for other options, but there were none. The man steeled himself, then ran at the beast.

Hagrid cannoned into the monster, grappling with its head. His attempts, however, were for nothing, and he was thrown aside. It came up to Hagrid, who was flat on his back, and bowed its head._ "Nobody interferes. . . And lives to tell the tale."_

"_Flipendo_!" a tree broke from the ground, colliding with the monster. It gave its ghastly wail as it tumbled into the ground. It began to spew its smog again, but Hagrid jumped to his feet and hauled a large, stray rock on his shoulders. He came over to the rousing beast and released it on its body. The resulting sound was the noise of many bones shattering at their joints. He took it up again and smashed it against the monster, again and again until it wheezed no more.

Cecelia's wand was the one that had launched the tree into the thing. Orion realized she was still on top of him, and she seemed to notice the same instant, too. They busily moved away from the other, both faces red, as Hagrid took a breather by his work. Sigma groaned, trying to sit up straight. Orion came over and helped him up, supporting him with his shoulder.

"Where'd ye learn skills like that, lad?" Hagrid said, "I thought ye tykes didn't know no spells, yet." He glanced at Cecelia. "Well, some learn fast." He tipped his shaggy head to her.

"It's. . ." Sigma took a deep breath, expelling it just as deep, then tried again, "It's none of your business." Oscar came running over.

"Is everything all right? What happened?" he said. Everyone who was involved in the event looked back at the boulder and the mess underneath it. Hagrid continued to needle Sigma, but he was short on helpful answers.

"It's a long story. I promise I'll tell you later," Orion said. Oscar peeked over Orion's shoulder. Orion faced the direction to see what was so interesting, and spotted Rachel and Spartzis, evidently talking to each other. They were looking at them, where the show had occurred. When they saw they had been discovered, Rachel left. Spartzis leered at Orion seductively.

Orion shivered and looked away. He then looked over to see Po exiting the front doors, soft pretzels in hand. "Wait. . . We actually have soft pretzels here?" The student scanned the area for Orion, and his face lit up when he found him. He pelted his way to the hut, his arms joyfully full of pretzels. As he came near, Oscar said, "Well, it was worth a try."

"I got it! I got it, Orion Potter! Soft pretzels!" Po exclaimed. Orion and Oscar stared at him. "Oh, I thought I would never fulfill my duty - but then Headmaster Collins came around selling soft pretzels! How I was happy, indeed! To do something for the awesome grandson of Harry Potter!" Orion and Oscar blankly took one, and Po distributed the pretzels to everyone else, including Hagrid. Longbottom frowned upon him as he was given the pretzel, but he took a bite of it nonetheless. Po was left with two extras after accommodating himself and Hagrid, and gave them to Potter.

"So, what were YOU guys up to?" Po said excitedly. Everybody watched Po, his enthusiasm blatantly out of place. Hagrid gave up his pursuit for answers, and came up behind Orion.

"I dunno, laddy, but Potter and these oth'r two need come with me," the man said, laying a meaty hand on Orion's shoulder. He looked over to Cecelia and Sigma, who rose expectantly. "We gon' take a visit tah the ol' Headmaster tah see what's this all about."

Po and Oscar had left, getting the hint from Hagrid that what had happened was confidential. The other three, plus Nashira, followed Hagrid inside. "It migh' be a litt'r tough to fin' the 'eadmaster. He's bin goin' a bit bonkers la'ly."

"Yeah," Cecelia said. "We saw him skateboarding in the halls earlier."

"He do' that of'en these days," Hagrid said, smiling a bit. "Anyhow, 'e might as well be in 'is office, by now."

"I hope so," Cecelia said. "I don't want to search the whole school for him."

"Me either," Hagrid said. "But it's our bes' bet, righ' now." They arrived at the Headmaster's door, and Hagrid knocked on it hardly.

The door swung open inwards, and in the center stood the headmaster, a huge grin playing across his face. "Haagrid!" he said. "What a pleeeeasant surprise!" He closed the door tightly in his face. "Password!" he called from the inside.

Hagrid sighed, "Blood pops!" The door reopened.

"Thaaat's better! Wouldn't want any gargoyles ripping you up, eh?"

"I s'ppose," Hagrid said, "But we got 'ere som'more import'nt problems."

"Very well! Come in, come in all!" The Headmaster ushered everyone inside his quarters, grinning maniacally, his teeth looking sharp as knives. "Sit, please sit!"

There were no chairs in the room, but the headmaster didn't seem to mind. He sat down in the middle of a bright red rug. Cecelia was the first to plop down, closely followed by Nashira.

"I'd rather stand," Hagrid said, nodding his head quickly.

The headmaster looked to Orion and Longbottom, who were still standing. "I could expel you," he said, narrowing his eyes. Both boys immediately sat down. "Good. Now, I know Hagrid knows my name, but I don't think that you do. You guys smell like new students here. I can smell you very well. . . So, I am Gerald Collins, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the school of which you now reside. The school where you will learn things, the school where you will probably-"

"'Eadmaster," Hagrid interrupted. "I'd like tah get back to th' matter at'and, ye know."

"Ah, yes," Professor Collins said, nodding his head, and grinning. "What seems to be the problem, oh giant one?"

Hagrid sighed. "I as'ed yer to stop callin' me that," he said. "If ye be wantin' to call me er silly name, I say, call me PP Hags."

"PP Hags?" Collins said, bursting out into laughter. "All right then, oh giant one. What seems to be the problem, PP Hags?"

"Well, ye see," Hagrid began, ignoring the mirth that had filled the headmaster, "We had ourselves a little run in with one o' them. . ." He glanced back at the students. "Well, I don' know what you'd call it. But -"

"It was a dementor," Sigma said. The headmaster looked at the boy, a look of wonder on his face.

"What did this dementor look like?" he asked, sounding a bit too excited. "Did it freeze the plants like they do in stories? Or maybe did it try to suck the soul out of your face?"

Hagrid frowned. "This be serious bus'nis, sir. Wit all due res'ect, I think ye should lis'en to the boy."

"Oh, I am being as serious as can be," the headmaster said, grinning. "Tell me your story, sonny!" Longbottom looked at the headmaster with distaste, something crawling deep within his eyes.

"I think I am done here," he said. Sigma stood and left out the door, Hagrid swiping a hand to catch his shoulder. Sigma evaded it and slipped out the door. The headmaster looked after him with interest.

"Would anyone else like to tell me this venture of yours?"

"I think I would exaggerate," Cecelia said, playing with her hands. "I do that."

Orion shook his head as well. "I'm not quite sure what happened myself, professor. We didn't even see most of the battle."

Nashira looked up, and tugged on Cecelia's robe. The older sister put her head down, and Nashira whispered something in her ear. Cecelia nodded her head, saying, "Go ahead, Nashi." The little girl stood up and walked to stand in front of the headmaster. She grabbed his nose, and then moved his head around, pulling at his ears. She pulled her hands away, only to put them back on his face, pulling his mouth open, putting a finger on each one of his teeth. He patiently waited for her to satisfy her examinations, until at last she took a step away.

"I can trust you," she said quietly, her voice sounding more mature than anybody had expected. She almost sounded as if she were an adult, and yet, she looked only four years old. "I think the dementors have changed. The thingie that attacked us wasn't normal. It was big, and had a lot of legs like a spider. . . and when PP Hags -" Hagrid coughed, making everyone flinch. Nashira continued, nonetheless. "- When he threw a lion at the big monster, he didn't flinch, like he's 'posed to. He killed it. And then mean guy said a bunch of thingers, and the dementor dieded." She turned around, and went back to sit on Cecelia's lap.

"Well," the headmaster said. "That was not the most interesting thing a child has ever done to me, but I think it was quite interesting! I have never been examined by a child before! But where did this thing you speak of come from? Not thin air, I suppose." Hagrid sighed.

"'Twas me beastie, Luster. . . Well, used to be, anyway," Hagrid said.

"Oh, the hippogryph? What a shame. . ."

Hagrid stomped on the ground in annoyance. "Damn it, Gerald! Can't ye see what's happenin'? These things are hidin'! They be on tah sch'ul grounds! You said it yerself, that tah 'mentors are up and 'bout the wide world with nothin' tah care in the world! And now they ain't just the little wimpy kinds - they've blown themselves up in big monstrosities!" The headmaster scrutinized Hagrid a little longer.

"Is that all?" Hagrid was nigh giving up. "No matter what is happening, what do you expect me to do about it?"

"Yer the 'eadmaster!" Hagrid argued. "'Tis yer duty ta keep all this chil'ren safe!" The headmaster contemplated his guests. His eyes, once kind with a hint of insanity, bore a shrewd, slightly wicked look to them.

"Thank you, Hagrid, children. I will keep your words in mind." His sentence was dismissive, and everyone took it as so. Orion, Cecelia, and Nashira roused, and left out the door with Hagrid, who cast a final glance back at the headmaster before leaving with them.

Once the door was closed behind them, Hagrid sighed. "Ow somebod like im got a job as 'eadmaster, I don' know," he said, shaking his head. "Jus' go to yer commons or find some'n' else to do."

Cecelia nodded her head, Nashira tugging on her shirt. Cecelia picked her up, and held her in her arms. "We might as well go eat lunch," she said looking to Orion.

Orion nodded his head. "Maybe we can find Po and Oscar," he said.

"And Longbottom," she added with a smile. The two of them then went to the dining hall to get some food inside of them.

Once they were in the hall, they found themselves a spot to sit. They searched the room, looking for any sign of any of the others, but the couldn't find them. "Oh well," Cecelia said. "No point in starving ourselves waiting for them." She grabbed some chicken on a plate for herself, and also grabbed something small for Nashira.

Nashira tugged on her sister's shirt. Cecelia sighed, put her head down to Nashira's, who was whispering. "No, Nashi, you have to eat something," Cecelia said. "Look, Ceci is eating." She took a bite of her food. Nashira huffed, but picked up the roll on her plate. Orion looked down at his plate, that was still empty, and realized that he wasn't hungry. He grabbed a roll all the same, and made himself eat something. After a moment, a figure sat down next to him, leaning his back against the table.

"So, what was all that show biz over at the hut, sexy?" the sentence was shortly followed by the crunch of an apple. Orion shivered, slightly leaning away from the person. He dared glance over, and met the eyes of Spartzis Collins.

The brows above his green eyes waggled. Orion contained the urge to throw up. "You saw it over there with Rachel," he responded. Another annoying bite of the apple came, splattering some of its juice upon his face.

"Some of it," Spartzis said, "Doesn't mean I knew what was going on." Orion was silent, which seemed to irritate Spartzis. "What, Potter. Cat got your tongue? Ooh, that sounds nice, I would love to be the cat on your tongue." Spartzis raised his eyebrows, and threw his apple behind him. He leaned forward towards Orion's face, who was backing up as far as he could, away from the other. A chill slipped up his neck - he wasn't sure if it was Spartzis' proximity to him or something more ominous. It seemed like both. Just the hint of darkness seemed to be slithering out of him, his eyes turning a shade of purple as he closed in on Orion. The boy screwed his eyes shut, no longer able to back up from him anymore, and not daring to open his mouth to speak should Spartzis -

Orion opened his eyes. Spartzis was no longer there. Orion sat up, looking around to see if that just happened. Fortunately, nobody seemed to be paying attention, so he didn't have to go through the embarrassment of shying away from an invisible figure.

Someone else sat next to him, striking new and rich fear into him. When he realized it was just Longbottom, he breathed a sigh of relief. The boy shot him a glare. "What?"

"Long story," Orion muttered.

"Speaking of stories," Cecelia piped, "Why didn't you tell yours?"

Longbottom released his intimidating glower, and was about to say exactly what was on his mind. However, he thought better of it at the last second. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he settled with. He landed a slice of pizza on his plate.

"What makes you say that?"

"Just don't go digging into stuff I don't want to talk about," Longbottom said with a hint of ferocity. Cecelia backed off. Orion felt the urge to back her up, but he couldn't bring himself against Longbottom. . . And survive.

"Where's Po?" he asked instead.

"Do I look like I care?" Longbottom said back. Admittedly, Orion didn't care, either, but it was still worth asking if it brought some noise to the space.

"I'm right here, Orion!" Po said from behind him. "You were looking for me? You were wondering where I was? Oh. My. Gosh. A Potter was looking for me!" Longbottom cringed with hate.

"Umm. . . yes. . . I was looking for you," he said.

Po's eyes widened. "I love you!" he said, latching onto Orion's chest. He awkwardly patted his back.

"Umm, I was going to eat," Orion said.

"Then let's eat!" Longbottom gave the impression that he'd rather shoot himself than have to put up with Po. Orion bit his tongue and attempted to have a casual meal, despite the gremlin beside him mimicking everything he did.

Cecelia went for a roll, and a hand took hold of it at the same time. Her face flushed red as she looked up, and she immediately drew away. "Oh, I'm sorry," the other said. He held the roll to her. "Please, have it."

"Thanks," Cecelia said, slowly grabbing the roll.

"You're welcome," the boy said. "And, by the way, I am Daedalus Smart."

"Ceci Weasley." She held out her hand to the boy, and the two shook hands as Orion tried not to watch. Ceci? Why had she introduced herself as Ceci? He looked down, a bit saddened. Why hadn't she been Ceci to him? He took a bite out of his food, not caring anymore that Po was doing the same beside him.

While Orion was off in his depression, Cecelia was getting closer and closer to this new boy. He was telling jokes, and she was laughing like there was nothing funnier in the world. Rachel strided next to him, watching things progress. "Having fun there, Daedalus?" she said.

Daedalus looked at Rachel, surprised by her appearance. "Hey Rachel," he said quietly. Rachel stared astutely at the boy, as if savoring his timidness.

"Hello, Cecelia," Rachel said, turning to Cecelia. She gazed with scorn at her little sister. "And Brat," she spat.

Orion looked up from his plate, and opened his mouth as if to say something, but Daedalus beat him. "Rachel, don't be like this," he said. "Actually, I think I have had enough of you being so mean to everybody. Especially the new students - I'm sick of it."

"And what are you going to do about it, Toots?" Rachel sneered. "You gonna break up with me or something?"

"Actually, _yes_," Daedalus said. "I am breaking up with you." If Rachel was disappointed by this, she didn't show it. She just bore a smug smile.

"I was planning on it anyway, honey," she said. "You are too boring for the likes of me." She stood up from the table and walked away. Longbottom had that specific look to him again. Orion was about to ask what was up when Cecelia and Daedalus began flirting again. He was quiet for a while, but he also wanted to say something. After a moment, he jumped in the conversation. "Hey," he said, looking at Daedalus, "I'm Orion."

The boy ripped his intense eyes from Cecelia's and looked at Orion as if he was woken up from cold water. "Hi?" he said as though he was confused. _He must be one of those hard-head teens that care for nothing but girls,_ Orion thought to himself.

"I'm Ceci's friend," he said.

"Cool," Daedalus said, shrugging his shoulders. He turned back to Ceci and began flirting with her again. Orion sighed. He had failed at distracting him, and now he was probably going to take Cecelia away from him. Next to him, Po sighed as well.

Orion looked over to him. "Can I do some things by _myself_? Without you mimicking me?" he snapped.

Po looked down at his hands. "I'm so sorry, Oreo," he said.

"And _don't_ call me that," he said. "My name is Orion, not Oreo."

Po nodded his head, while Longbottom laughed harshly. "Finally snapped, Potter? You got much farther than I thought you would get. I threatened him in the first five minutes," he added in speculation.

Orion sighed again.

"Oh no," Longbottom said, looking from him to Cecelia lavishly. "You like her, don't you?" Orion stayed silent. "You _do_. Don't you know that would never work out? Potters and Weasleys have already mated!"

"Mated?" Orion said. "Gross, no, I don't want to _mate_ with her."

"Oh, so you just like her as a friend, then?" Longbottom said back.

"I like her as a little more than a friend," Orion said quietly. "But I do not like the idea of mating one bit."

Longbottom shook his head. "You would be the perfect boyfriend, if somebody actually seemed to care. It seems every other boy has the intent to get dirty." Orion was slightly taken aback from this. Was Longbottom actually being nice behind that detached tone?

Orion sighed again. "Spratzis has taken a liking to me. . ."

"He's a guy," Longbottom said. "Guys don't count." He looked over at Po, turning back into his angry self. "Go get more pretzels, since that seems to be all that you're good at."

Po's eyes widened in sudden fright, but he stood up and quickly walked off in search of more soft pretzels. "I'm can't stand that kid. . . I'm sleeping in Slytherin, at least for tonight. For now, I'm going to see if anybody wants to pick a fight." Sigma stood up from his seat, devouring the rest of what he had left. "Have fun, lover boy." Sigma left, leaving Orion alone with his lost love chatting away with a boy that came from nowhere.

"Do you have a map?" Daedalus said to Cecelia. "I'm lost in your eyes."

Cecelia turned red. "I have a map," Orion said. "The Marauder's map."

"I was _flirting_, you idiot."

"Oh," Cecelia said, her face growing more flush. She already seemed to know it - she probably had just wanted to hear him say it. Orion was just playing with his food now, Po looking at him curiously. Orion was sure he was going to die of old age until Nashira took Cecelia's attention.

"I'm sleepy," she said. "I won go to seep."

Cecelia sighed. "I'll take you back, and we can take a nap." She looked over to Daedalus. "See you around?"

Daedalus nodded his head. "Yeah," he said. "Actually, the second years were planning a trip to Hogsmeade. Maybe I can sneak you in?"

Cecelia laughed. "We can try," she said. She scooped Nashira up in her arms, and headed towards the Gryffindor commons. Orion glowered at Daedalus, but he was too busy staring after Cecelia to notice. Potter gave up on this, longing looking after Cecelia. If he followed, it probably would make him seem like Po. . . But Po was obsessive, and he wasn't, right? He sighed, and stood up to go after her anyway.

"Hey!" Orion froze. The voice had come from behind. The boy hesitantly turned around and met the eyes of Daedalus. The sound of Cecelia's footsteps grew quieter in the distance, and he felt his chances plummet before Daedalus. "Did you _not_ just hear me ask her on a date?"

"No," Orion said. "I thought you were asking her on a friendly outing."

"Oh really?" Daedalus said. "Then why did she blush so much when I asked?"

Orion shrugged. "It could be anything." Daedalus evilly looked at him.

"You don't have a chance with her," he growled. Orion felt a bit of nausea, but wasn't willing to back down to this guy.

"Says who?" Orion challenged.

"It should be yourself." _Longbottom would really come in handy right now._ "Leave us alone, twerp - she's mine." Daedalus took pleasure in Orion's fallen hopes, and brushed past him, scoring his shoulder.

"You don't know her," Orion called after him. "And I don't think she would like it if you claimed her. At least I have more manners than that."

"Manners?" Daedalus sneered. "At a time like this, you think _manners_ are important?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. Girls aren't items, and you are absolutely stupid if you think they are. On top of that, you just broke up with Rachel. Shouldn't you wait before having another girlfriend?"

"Shouldn't you wait before you run your mouth at an upperclassmen?" Daedalus scoffed. He went off on his way, not planning on listening to Orion anymore than he had to. Orion was still tense, but he knew he had lost._ You always lose to those older than you. . ._

Orion shook his head, disappointed in himself for even trying. He sat back down and finished eating, before going to explore the rest of the school on his own, wishing that he had come up with something smarter. He felt as though he had lost Cecelia, and that she would be too interested in Daedalus to care about im. He spent his day under a cloud of depression, wishing for his friend back.


End file.
